Breathe Today
by J Val3ntine
Summary: Rebecca Chambers has settled down to a boring life. When she awakes one night with someone in her apartment, she finds that danger is coming. Umbrella wants her dead. With help from Billy Coen, she struggles to keep herself alive & free. But can she do it
1. Trace of the Past

I do not own Resident Evil, all content pertaining to Resident Evil is copywrite to Capcom

Breathe Today

_Trace of the Past  
_-Chapter One-

_I've got to get out of here…_she told herself as the office unfolded before her. Rebecca Chambers watched the office around her as though it might do a trick. Bright green eyes focused on nothing in particular, other than the maple wood top of her desk. How long had it been since she had done anything? Surely just a month ago…and Rebecca was already extremely bored. In her mind her emergence from the thick wood she had been traveling for days seemed just like yesterday. Torn and tattered, she had been one of the few members of the S.T.A.R.S. team to survive and the only one from the Bravo team. The loss of her fellow members had hurt her and she felt odd when she had been transferred to work with the remnants of the Alpha team.

Not shortly after her return she had filed the report, keeping her word to Billy Coen. Words of her fake report were still alive within her mind, as though she had just written it. _According to the information from military authorities, the unidentified body was identified as former ensign Billy [Coen, who was sentenced the death penalty following a court-martial on July 22nd. _It was probably one of the first times she'd ever lied in her life, especially on something so important. But Rebecca couldn't bring herself to mark Billy as a hunted man, it seemed almost unfair to the brown-haired ex-marine. He wasn't a bad man rather they had misunderstood him. She was beginning to doubt that there was justice in the world, especially after Umbrella had gotten away with the mansion incident.

Her eyes swept around the police office, catching a glimpse of the few remaining S.T.A.R.S. members. Jill Valentine. Barry Burton. Chris Redfield. And Rebecca Chambers. A team of four, five if you counted the Alpha team pilot Brad Vickers. For some odd reason both Barry and Chris had left the compound on vacation (something related to the mansion?), leaving Jill humbly filing papers at her desk. After zombie hunting in what felt like the mansion from the depths of hell, it was hard to go back to filing papers and smiling at people who came in looking for a lost cat. Jill seemed to be having the same problem as Rebecca, though she hadn't said a thing about it. She, much like Rebecca, looked as though this were the last place she wanted to be but when she caught her brown-haired co-worker looking at her, she gave a small smile.

Rebecca felt chilled. While the Alpha team had tried to make her feel at home with them, she still felt out of place. None of them had mentioned the mansion after that first day back; nobody would have believed them. In the end the entire incident had been blamed on wild animals, the mansion incinerated so all proof had been blown away. She knew that when she had come back the other members of S.T.A.R.S. had all but caused a riot among the station, telling tales of zombies. Nobody had believed them. They were just stressed, tired, needed a break…a 'vacation'. Now they sat among the office as though nothing had happened, pretending everything was alright.

But Rebecca was sure they were planning something, she just wished that she could be a part of it. Then again, who wanted a rookie member of S.T.A.R.S. touching top secret Umbrella documents? She looked away from Jill's friendly gaze after a quick wave. So many questions roamed around her mind, unanswered for what may be forever. The papers that lay before her sat unread, not a part of Rebecca's interests at the moment. She couldn't get that dark mansion out of her head and she could never forget the man that had helped her through it. What was he doing now? Was he alright? At least Billy was free from the grips of injustice. Around her neck dangled the chain, Billy's dog tags.

Rebecca had showed them the tag as proof that she had met the man, and then shortly after taken it back while nobody had been looking. She felt silly wearing it all the time as she was now but it served as the only remembrance of the horror experience that she had endeavored, the only proof that Billy existed and she wasn't going crazy. Besides, it was Billy's and she should give it back…if they ever met again.

The scrape of her chair against the wooden floor of the office echoed through the tiny space. Rebecca stood up, stretching her arms and legs shortly after she did so. Dismissing her work, the small papers on her desk, her green eyes watched the office around her. She scanned the hoards of empty desks where co-workers had once sat. How many had they lost? Rebecca sighed and turned to Jill, her expression tired. Outside it was getting dark, nearly sunset.

"I'll see you tomorrow Jill, I'm going home," she paused, only Jill was in the office, "I just need to get some rest. Take care."

Miss Valentine placed the paper that was in front of her down, eyes watching Rebecca with a sort of curiosity. There was something familiar in the woman's eyes, calling out to Rebecca. It looked as though she wanted to say something to the young woman regarding previous events but instead she settled for a simple departure. Jill would be fine taking care of the office, S.T.A.R.S. hadn't had a mission since the mansion and paper work wasn't exactly important. Still…Jill seemed to have a lot of work to do all the time.

"Take care Rebecca," Jill waved and watched as the rookie member headed out the door, the same element glowing in her eyes as she watched the remaining member of the Bravo team leave the office.

As she walked out, Rebecca couldn't help but think that it would be very appropriate to depart after saying _Watch out for zombies_. Of course if Jill was feeling the least bit like her, she didn't ever want to hear the word zombies and here put together in the same sentence…ever again. It was sad how she had come to accept the reality of what had happened at the dark mansion. Sliding her jacket on, Rebecca padded down the street towards her apartment. It was going to be a long night, she could tell.

- - -

Military authorities have requested that we turn over [Coen's body as proof of his death…_Darkness stretched across the horizon as she walked the edges of the train's dark room. Propped up against a chair was the body of a man, unmoving. She crept forwards, her hands tightening around the semi-automatic handgun. The air that she breathed seemed trapped in her lungs, as though afraid to come out. Continuing forwards, the girl relaxed against the view of the dead man. Death had taken him already; leaving nothing but a rotting corpse for her to gaze upon_…it will be a difficult task to recover…_resting her aching muscles, the girl reached out to touch the dead man's shoulder._

_Perhaps there was a chance that he still clung to life, that he could tell them why everything on the train had become like a ghost town. Her fingertips met cold, rotting flesh and with a sick wet sound, the man's head fell to the ground. The sucking sounds from creatures within the corpse filled her ears and they emerged, much like a thousand little leeches lusting after her blood_...I am requesting that this case be temporarily closed until further notice…_they swarmed her, covered her skin like a thousand spiders ready to destroy her. _

_Rebecca screamed and the sounds of gunshots echoed through out the compartment. She fell to the ground underneath the weight of the monstrous leeches. The gunshots pierced the flesh of a few and they exploded into pus and blood. Suddenly they were gone, crawling underneath the wood work to go feast on the flesh of something else. Rebecca sat up, her faith and person shaken by the scenery before her. Green eyes gazed upwards, into the face of her savoir. In his hands rested the hand gun that had prevented her death. He had saved her life just now, despite being a criminal._

_Billy Coen._

Something fell in the next room, an assortment of pans that had been collecting dust in her apartment. Rebecca awoke as though someone had just slapped her across the face. The pots and pans rolled along the floor as though someone were whacking them repeatedly with a stick. For a second she considered that the wrack might have finally broken. She rolled over in the queen-sized bed, sitting up and sliding her feet over the edge. Her fingers reached for the lamp besides her bed. Click. Nothing. Click. Click. Click. Still darkness met her gaze. Had someone cut the power?

Outside she could see the glimmer of the street lights from other houses. Apparently it was just her house that was in trouble. The young woman's heart skipped a beat, her hand sliding to the draw below it. Smoothly the wood opened to reveal a loaded handgun, the very same that she always wore. The noises of the city at night filled her ears, a piercing silence that one had to be used to.

Rebecca closed her hand among it, finding the trigger even though the darkness met her grips. Armed and dangerous, the girl crept towards the source of the noise. A pan still rolled along the floor, finally ending with a final thud. The curtains in her room fluttered with the breeze of night, beating up against the window and wall lightly enough to douse her room in moonlight. Rebecca stood at attention, garbed in her pajamas. She raised her gun and flattened up against the corner of the door leading into the kitchen. Silence met her ears…and then the sound of footsteps against the kitchen floor.

To someone who hadn't been trained, hadn't lived in this apartment for several years, it would have still been silence. The floor was made of hard wood that creaked in certain spots (spots which you could only discover having lived there several years). She had memorized the way that the wood behaved when addressing both weight and area. Rebecca knew just exactly where a person had to be standing to provoke such a noise from the tired wood.

She was armed with enough combat knowledge to make someone hurt for days, despite being the newest member of the dying S.T.A.R.S. There was no sense in trying to turn on the light and blowing her cover, she knew the apartment well enough without having to put on a light. Rebecca stayed flat against the trim of the wall as the footsteps approached closer, staying away from the light provided by the open window. Closer…Closer…she waited for a chance to strike. A part of the kitchen floor squeaked and Rebecca had her lead.

Like a snake from the shadows, she attacked, stepping out and slamming the butt of her gun against the back of the figure's head. A curse met her opponent's lips as she hit him. Victory, or so she thought. Only the person was better than Rebecca thought because a hand reached out and grabbed her left wrist. There was significant proof right there that whoever was attacking her had experienced combat before. Rebecca only hoped that they hadn't been sent by a higher up. She struggled against the hold, trying to save her bullets, just in case. All she needed was a report filed against her for shooting a robber in her apartment with a gun she had 'hanging around'. Then they'd really think she was paranoid.

"Let me go!" she yelled and, without warning did the first thing that she could think of, bit down on the hand that had grabbed her wrist. A copper taste filled her mouth as her pearly whites broke the skin. Bone met her resistance and Rebecca let go when the figure pulled away.

The man, for the voice was very masculine, yelled and pulled away from her grips. He said something that she didn't catch because her gun butt nailed the guy right in the stomach. She lashed out once more; hitting some parts of him with her other hand. The guy grunted in pain but wrapped his hand around her right wrist, forcing her back into the wall by placing a hand along her abdomen as well. She winced as her back hit the edge of her wall. His weight against her own kept Rebecca from moving, she was trapped. He was so close that she could feel his breath against her own, though her eyes hadn't adjusted enough to the darkness to know who was really there.

She didn't panic as any sensible woman would do when in this situation but rather tried to search for a way that just might save her life, or her pride…depending on whom this man was. Rebecca knew better than to accept defeat. There was something that her attacker had forgotten to put into perspective; she was ambidextrous when it came to her gun skills. She slid her gun to her left hand and clicked the safety off, a matter of seconds between each action. The end of her gun connected with the man's forehead and Rebecca found her voice stronger than it usually was.

"Don't move or I will shoot." She warned, "Put your hands where I can see them."

The hand holding her wrist let it go, hands up. Rebecca knew better than to just back away with from the man, she had to render him useless before she could even think about relaxing her guard. Though she felt bad for what she was about to do, the young woman wouldn't risk letting her guard down to be taken over again. With all of the strength in her arm, she brought the butt of her gun to the side of the guy's head and he fell with a thud. Who knew what her downstairs neighbor thought about the racket that the S.T.A.R.S. member was making.

She stared at the man for a split second, analyzing her situation as she had been taught to do. Though not down for the count, he was down enough for her to switch her gun to the other hand and reach for a lighter on the kitchen table. Nimble fingers grazed the counter top for some sign of the lighter she kept, finding candles and pens. Finally her grips closed around a rectangular-shaped box with a flip top. She thanked her love for candles at this moment and clicked the lighter on. Light filled the room, lighting up the face of her attacker.

Rebecca gasped at who she saw trying to sit up on the floor before.

"Billy?!" she cried.

_Jill's Notes  
_Hello! Nice to see you made it through my first chapter of my first RE fic! Yay cheers!  
After about 12 hours I finally got to post this, (I was having issues with but that's besides the point.)  
Thank you for reading & Comments and opinions are welcome.  
Much Love,  
Jill Loituma


	2. Patching Things Up

_All content pertaining to Resident evil is copywrite to Capcom._

**Patching Things Up**

-Chapter Two-

"Haven't you ever heard of a doorbell or knocking?" the young woman scowled as she applied alcohol to a large cut surrounded by a bruise on the side of Billy's face.

Guilt and embarrassment filled her chest as she started to tend to the ex-marine's wounds. Nimble fingers continued to dab the red gash with the cotton swab as she shook her head. Billy hadn't been too beat up by her, just the head wound and a lovely bite mark on his arm where she had sunk her teeth in. Her emotions about him were mixed, considering it _had_ been a month. Both overjoyed and angry to see the man who had survived hell with her, Rebecca said nothing more as she tended to his wounds.

"I didn't want you to know I was here," he said simply.

Billy didn't look any different than he had when she had met him last; untidy brown hair, a gray muscle shirt covering his toned chest, plain blue jeans and a brown belt. The black tattoo still danced down his right arm. His dark eyes gazed at her in the same empty way they always had, making him look the same as usual. Only he looked beat up, courtesy of yours truly. Rebecca placed the used cotton swab on the kitchen counter. The lights were back up, thanks to Billy, so she didn't have to grope around for the surgical tape.

"Well I think you lost that deal when you knocked over my pan wrack," she said sarcastically. Billy looked slightly annoyed. Rip, the first piece of tape was in her fingers and ready to be applied to the nasty gash on his forehead.

"I didn't do that," he began, "there was someone else in your apartment. They've been scaling you Rebecca, keeping tabs on what you do and where you go. I saw him the other day when I watched you go to work, he was following you," he began but Rebecca interrupted.

"You've been _stalking_ me?!" she asked, surprised, she stopped what she had been doing, her fingers poised above applying small pieces of surgical tape in case the wound had the idea of reopening. Annoyed, she placed the piece on a little to hard and watched Billy wince, though he didn't say anything, "Sorry…" she mumbled.

Billy seemed torn between what to say. Obviously he was amused with the idea of being accused of stalking anybody, especially a female member of S.T.A.R.S. who had spent various amounts of time with him on a zombie-filled train. Rebecca couldn't believe what he was saying. How long had he been watching her? Where had he gotten all the information on where she worked? Where she lived? She felt like someone had just displayed the contents of her clothes draw to the public.

"I couldn't help it," Billy grinned.

"Oh so you cut my power and- wait, someone was in my apartment aside from you?" she felt a chill crawl up her spine.

Rebecca's brown hair slid into her face but she paid no attention to it and moved to place the last mini strip of surgical tape on the gash to the right left of his right eye. Someone had been following her…in her apartment…they had been the one to knock down the pan wrack and cut her power. Did they want to kill her? Or just snoop around her stuff, looking for something important? It dawned on her then, was Umbrella watching her?

"Yeah. I managed to scare him away but I'm sure they'll be back. Umbrella's keeping tabs on you Rebecca. I can't tell if they want you dead but it's not safe to be in this city anymore," Billy's voice trailed off and he looked into her green eyes, something like worry written on his stoic face.

"But why?" she questioned, still in shock that the company was watching her.

"The remaining members of S.T.A.R.S are the only ones who knew what truly went on there. My guess is that Umbrella tried to kill you guys off with the mansion but you upset their master plan. The five remaining members of the team are a direct threat to the company," he paused, "I think they want to find a way to get rid of you Rebecca."

Even when such a horrific plan came from the comforting voice of Billy, she still felt as though someone had just told her she was going to die. A sad realization came upon her. The Bravo team had been sent in not to investigate the area, well, maybe at first, but rather to gather data for Umbrella's greedy hands. In the end they would have been abandoned and destroyed, marked down as dead. The same thing would happen with the Alpha team.

The head of the company, Albert Wesker had used them as puppets in a greater scheme. Now she understood why Jill had been so intent on those papers. They hadn't been documents for the police office; those papers had been official Umbrella documents. The 'vacations' that Barry and Chris had taken certainly weren't to Hawaii or Florida. Suddenly she felt sick. How could Wesker do something like that to them? His hand-picked team, his friends, companions, was power the only thing he cared for?

Silence for a moment. And then Rebecca spoke.

"So then why were _you_ following me?" she pressed, curiosity the only reason she kept questioning, "and where the heck did you get the location of my work office and apartment?" she raised her eyebrow.

"It was easy," Billy spoke nonchalantly, "all I had to do was read the paper. 'STARS missing something', 'STARS members traumatized', 'Fallen STARS'. People seemed to like making fun of you guys, but they conveniently put the name of the address of the station below," he paused, "I slipped in one day and dug up your records. Originally I just wanted to say thanks to your face but that's when I found they were following you."

_Note to self, get better security for the office. _She spoke in her mind.

"So you were going to break into my apartment anyways?" she raised her eyebrow, placing the surgical tape back down on the table by the rest of the stuff. Billy looked slightly guilty, an expression that didn't fit him so well.

"I would have used the door bell," he joked, she scowled but was glad to have his sense of humor lighting up the apartment.

"Not funny Billy," she scowled but found herself smiling, her eyes fell to the bite mark on his hand, "You look like horrible with all those cuts and bruises, especially that hand," Rebecca motioned her head towards the still-bleeding bite mark on his arm. The medic in her drained the guilt from her face, momentarily.

"Whose fault is that?" Billy grinned. Rebecca flushed with embarrassment.

"I said I was sorry! Why didn't you fight back?" she sighed and picked up more cotton swabs, swishing them with alcohol to disinfect her bite mark on Billy's hand. The situation couldn't have been more embarrassing for her even if she had been wearing her _other _set of pajamas.

"I didn't want to hurt you," he confessed, "Hopefully you don't have rabies."

"Just give me your hand," Rebecca flushed crimson once more, grabbing the hand that Billy held out for her. She grabbed the cotton swab and began to dab at the wound upon it. Rebecca marveled at how toned Billy's arm appeared to be, the muscles looking almost graceful. Continuing to dab the blood away, she listened to Billy play more on his joke.

"Thanks doll-face, now I'll have battle scars to brag about to the boys," Billy laughed. She wasn't sure what sort of battle he was talking about but Rebecca chose to ignore his crude commentaries, only dabbing harder.

"You know, you're lucky I didn't shoot you," she pointed out, suddenly aware that Billy was watching as she finished dabbing the blood away from the bite mark. It didn't look like it would scar, though it might take a bit for the mark to heal up.

"Guess so," Billy sighed, watching Rebecca finish her work. Finally she placed the cotton swab down, suddenly aware that she was holding Billy's hand. Before the man could speak a wisecrack or further address her lingering touch, Rebecca dropped his hand and began to put away her medical supplies. They fit neatly into the pack she had hanging around.

Silence ensued for a few moments, as though Billy was thinking about something important. Rebecca pretended she was truly preoccupied with putting stuff back into the rightful places.

Reluctantly Rebecca began to pick up the array of pots and pans, glad that Billy had been repaired from her merciless beating. She was sure that the man would never let that go, so long as he stayed around her. Though it was strange to her that the first thing he would do once he got out of the forest was visit her. Didn't he have something better to do? She let her curiosity get the better of her and spoke before her mind could censor her mouth.

"Why come here? Don't you have a family to go back to? A girlfriend? Maybe a brother or something?" Rebecca questioned, placing the last pan on the wrack so that it swung like a pendulum.

"My girlfriend…she left me, once I came back from the mission, and my mom's been long gone for a while, so I really didn't have anywhere else to go," Billy shot back, though there was no anger in his voice for her asking so, only a remorse for a life that he had lost thanks to matters out of his control. The pan stopped swinging.

"I'm sorry, that was none of my business," she looked forlorn, eyes turning towards the windows.

The shades were shut and the house was quiet but she couldn't help but feel this place wasn't safe anymore. It had been her home for ages; her parents had helped her move in when she had first been accepted into S.T.A.R.S. At the young age of 18 she was brought into the program for her incredible knowledge on medicines. While trained for combat, Rebecca was never really admitted on a mission until her 19th year. That mission had been the Mansion recovery unit. Her first mission and she had lost her entire team...

Her mother and father still loved her regardless of what the papers said about the delusional members of S.T.A.R.S. She hadn't told them much but it was enough to make her worry about them. The older couple lived a ways away from here, middle class people who loved their daughter to pieces. She was glad that they weren't anywhere near the city. Rebecca's affiliation with S.T.A.R.S. had become a dangerous thing and she didn't want to drag her unsuspecting parents into the dark abyss with her.

"Thanks for patching me up," Billy spoke and stood up, tucking the bar stool underneath Rebecca's kitchen counter.

She leaned against the cool black surface, the homey atmosphere of her kitchen had sunken to a hostile environment. The place she knew as home was no longer safe…people were tailing her…there was no way she could get out of this mess alone. Was Jill being tagged as well? Watched in every minute of her life like some sort of criminal? Rebecca wondered if she should send an email but assumed that the mail would be read through too. If they had the ability to follow her every day then they certainly wouldn't have an issue thumbing through someone's personal emails.

"For the first time in my life, I have no idea what to do," Rebecca sighed, slumping over the counter like a rag doll.

The brown-haired male watched Rebecca as though he hadn't expected her to say that. Perhaps the prospect of the team member not knowing what to do, not firmly placing her foot down, was a thing that he had yet to see. After all the first time they had met she tried to arrest him, though Billy was smarter than to just let a S.T.A.R.S. member cuff him again. He hadn't been about to bow down to the lost sense of justice within the country.

"If you want you could stay at my place, I rented out an old motel room. Nothing special but you would be safe there. They wouldn't be able to follow you if they couldn't find you," he proposed. Rebecca sat up, a new light shed upon her seemingly hopeless situation.

"But Billy that would put you in danger too! If they find out who you are…" she trailed off, afraid for her old-time companion.

"They won't." Coming from him, those words almost seemed to convince her.

Rebecca didn't know what to do. She wanted to be safe and Rebecca wanted to keep her friend in her life, just not by jeopardizing his. However Billy's safety came before hers, such was the ways of her personality. The offer had been extended but Rebecca knew that she would decline. The medic shook her head.

"I can't." Simple words and yet they hurt her to say that.

Silence as the two locked gazes, each intent on keeping the other safe while disregarding their own health.

"Rebecca…" Billy began his voice as strong as his will.

Under the weight of his dark gaze, Rebecca stood strong, her own eyes burning with emerald fire. Normally she would have felt ridiculous standing there in panda-bear pajama shorts and an oversized t-shirt, but right now she felt as though she could take on the world. Her gun rested on the counter besides her, right by her medical kit.

"I won't put you in danger." The argument of wills had begun.

"You're coming with me even if I have to drag you through the streets kicking and screaming," he challenged.

"I'd like to see you try," she accepted.

In a movement too quick for her eyes to follow, Billy lunged at her. Maybe she hadn't expected the convict to follow his bluff or perhaps she just hadn't registered what was happening, either way her response was too slow. Wrapping muscled arms around her waist, he lifted her up off the ground and slung her over his shoulder. Despite her kicking, Rebecca didn't scream as she would have normally. That would only wake the neighbors up…and what a show that would be.

"Billy!" she protested, beating his back with her fists, "put me DOWN!"

He seemed to be amused with her reaction. Billy tightened his grips on her as she attempted to struggle. In a battle of strength there was no doubt that Billy would win, his training far outweighed her own. Still, she found herself protesting as his shoulder dug into her gut. Billy was grinning.

"I will if you come with me," he offered.

"No! I told you I won't put you in danger, I-" he moved closer to the door, "for god SAKE Billy, I'm in my pajamas!" she flushed red as his left hand reached for her front door knob, "FINE. I'll go. Put me down and let me get my stuff."

"As you wish, hun," he lowered her to the ground, a grin stretched across her face. Rebecca scowled at him as she regained her footing, tugging the edges of her T-shirt back so that it covered her abdomen.

In a swift motion she descended into her bedroom to gather her items.

**Author's Note  
**Yes, I am aware that this story is very cutesy for a RE fic, don't worry, the action is coming.  
I'm having a hard time formulating plot ideas though, i've had to redue several chapters.  
So suggestions are _very_ welcome, in fact i'll give you a cookie if you've got one.  
Thank you for your comments guys! They keep me going!  
Much Love,  
Jill Loituma


	3. Easy Target

All content pertaining to Resident Evil is copywrite to Capcom.

**An Easy Target  
-**Chapter Three-

"It doesn't bite, does it?" she gestured towards the couch, an almost dangerous shade of dark brown.

Her emerald eyes flitted across the cheap motel room. It was low-class with a floor covered by a dusty rug. There was a stained coffee table in front of the couch, beer-glass rings and an old ash tray with ancient cigarette butts within it. An old television sat in front of the bed, to the right of the opposite end of the couch.

The bed had 'clean' sheets on it and surprisingly enough, they were still white. An ugly, faded pattern covered the walls, a blind-covered closet and two very dusty windows on the far wall completed the room's structure. Beaten shades covered these windows with curtains from what looked to be the 50's covering the edges and blocking out the rest of the sunlight. The scent of cigarette smoke clung to everything, inescapable.

"It was the best room I could afford with my paycheck," he closed the door behind them, tossing the bag with her stuff onto the couch. It landed with a light bounce.

"You get a paycheck?" she questioned, holding the rest of her stuff in her hands.

"Exactly," he brushed by her to sit down on the unoccupied end of the couch.

The medic couldn't tear her eyes away from the fashion nightmare from the 1971. Her eyes fluttered around the apartment for something to hang her clothes up in. Finding nothing, Rebecca sighed and placed her stuff down by the nightstand. She'd deal with wearing wrinkly clothes for now. Instinctively she flopped down next to Billy on the couch, respectively so. Fatigue washed over her and she rested her head on the back of the dust-filled couch, closing her eyes. A moment of complete silence passed.

"Hey Billy," Rebecca murmured and leaned back into the couch, which felt like a gigantic piece of straw-stuffed cardboard (though at this point she didn't really care what she slept on, rather that she got sleep in general).

"Yeah?" her companion responded.

"Thanks," Rebecca finished, feeling sleep tug at her body.

She might have tried to stay awake longer but the allure of sleep dragged her back under. So many thoughts traveled through her mind as she sat there on the couch that they made her not want to think at all. Probably the moment that she had given her heart-filled thanks, Rebecca drifted off into what would be a very deep sleep. Knowing that she was safe within the watchful eyes of her companion led her to sleep without worry or nightmares, something that she hadn't been able to escape since her eyes rested on that haunting train car.

---

The pale tendrils of sunlight stretched across her as she lay there in peaceful repose, the light coming from the bottom of the shades. Rebecca murmured and rolled over, her sheets following her as she did so. The heavy scent of both cigarettes and musk met her breath as she inhaled softly. A second more passed and then she opened her eyes to gaze around her. Cushioning her body was the not-so-aesthetically-pleasing bed. White sheets followed by a thin brown comforter stretched over her body where someone had draped them over her last night. Billy must have because she had fallen asleep on the couch…

Emerald spheres gazed around for signs of the hands that had done so, but Billy was nowhere to be seen. She sat up rather floppily and gazed for something to measure time with. Rebecca found what she was looking for in the form of a rather used digital wrist watch she had brought along with her. It was old so the surface was dented but she could read the numbers just as well.

"Its evening already?!" she gasped, feeling stupid for having slept that long.

Defeated, she flopped back into the bed and imagined that dust came out of the pillow as she did so. Where had Billy gone? Wearily, her eyes searched the other side of the bed for signs of sleep…surely he hadn't slept in the bed with her? A blanket draped over the couch answered her mind. Maybe he had gone to his job or something, to gain money to pay for this dusty old place. Either way, she decided it was best to stay here for now.

Sliding over to the couch, she groped around the coffee table for the television remote (known, only in her house, as the flipper). Her hand found a case of pop tarts labeled with her name and a really beat-up remote. Without much difficulty, Rebecca aimed the remote at the television and clicked 'ON'. Nothing happened. Click. Still nothing. Click. Click. Click. She began to grow impatient as the gray television screen sat mocking her. Angrily, she tossed the remote across the floor. The couch squeaked as she stood up to hover in front of the television.

"Fine, I'll just do it this way," she sighed and clicked the ON button on the televisions front. It turned on. Satisfied, she flopped back down into the couch and began to munch on the food that had been left for her. The news station was the only one that got a picture, aside from a Spanish soap opera station that Rebecca had stayed away from. The news report flooded over her ears, not really registering to her as she thought about other things.

"_Just yesterday in Raccoon city a woman has gone missing, authorities tell us that her name is…little else is known…one of several cases involving residents in Raccoon city… is trying to this out, chief…has no comment…"_

Uninterested, Rebecca played out in her mind just how she was going to spend the next day. What if Billy didn't come home until 11 at night? Surely she couldn't watch the news this entire time! Umbrella was trying to kill her and the rest of the S.T.A.R.S. team and all she could do was watch cheesy Spanish soap operas? Rebecca scowled. It was very unlike her to just sit out for her own safety while others might be in trouble. Her eyes fell to her stuff, containing suitable clothes and her medical supplies, as well as combat supplies she had hoarded away after her first mission.

She knew that she shouldn't do it…that staying on the couch and watching television was the thing that Billy wanted her to do; she would be safe here. But Rebecca wasn't going to sit around while people might be in danger. With a jump she had already clicked off the television and begun to sort through her clothes for something to wear that wouldn't attract too much attention.

There were two places she wanted to stay away from; the office and her house. Not to mention the route connecting the two. Really those had been the only places she had visited since she had gotten back. In the center of town was a little café, containing internet services and a small library section. The place had been her favorite, though she hadn't visited it since she got back.

Her plan was to log on to her email account and send Jill a warning. It was risky but she felt like she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she didn't warn her co-workers. Hopefully Miss Valentine was quick enough to get the email before her trackers and high tail it out of the town. If she registered a new email address they might not even be able to tell that it was her contacting Jill...until they read the contents of course.

Heart racing now, Rebecca slid on a pair of plain capris and a plain green tank top that she had brought along. The top fit her well, making it look as though she were just a girl trying to attract boys in town. A pair of sunglasses completed her disguise, though they didn't alter her appearance that much, but better than not having them. For a moment she contemplated bringing her gun but thought better of trying to conceal it from the public.

With one last bite of the pop tart she was off, locking the door before she closed it.

- - -

Nothing had changed in the great city since she had come back. One day Rebecca Chambers was living her worst nightmare and the next she was waiting in line for a latté. Though it may not have looked like this bugged her, she couldn't react with regular society the same way as she had before. Every person was a potential victim of Umbrella's T-virus, regardless of even race or gender.

A breeze tugged at her hair as she opened the café door with her right hand, warm air filled with the smell of coffee greeted her. Unintentionally her eyes swept the café for anyone who might recognize her. Finding none, Rebecca descended to the computer-lab part where several old monitors had been tacked up on counters. Though it was only the 90's, computers had already become a big part of industrial life. Pulling up a bar stool, she sat down and pulled up the local email service. She took to registering with a new address in case they had her old one monitored. Rebecca filled out Jill's screen name and labeled the email PLEASE READ.

_Jill Valentine,_

_They know, they've been watching you. Better take a vacation._

_Your younger co-worker is safe._

_Take care of yourself & watch out for the captain._

_Sincerely, xxx_

Click. The mail was sent. Rebecca continued to graze across the internet, looking for some news on S.T.A.R.S. though, strangely enough, there was nothing to be found. The soothing smell of hazelnut coffee washed over her, coming from the man who sat on the stool using the computer adjacent from her. Nothing met her eyes and she scrolled back to the main page. News headlines were scattered across it and she was about to click the screen out when something disturbing caught her emerald eyes. Among the news page were scattered pictures of individuals with flesh missing, peeled back to reveal both bite marks and puss-red scabs; the trade mark of the T-virus. Fearfully her eyes moved to the head line;

_Mob Victims Declared Deceased._

Heart skipping wildly, Rebecca hoped that the headlines lied to her. They must have been old, right? Because Umbrella had covered their tracks and destroyed anything that could've carried on the T-virus…but apparently they must have missed something. She shook her head, eyes wide as she continued to read the sickening words that had been typed on the page.

_Lt. James Fields reports that several of the victims from today's 'mob attack' have been pronounced dead. Suffering from severe bite wounds and what appears to be insanity, the officials believe that these people were mentally unstable. However, Fields believes that there is more to this than meets the eye. "I couldn't make them stop but, they kept coming, as though they didn't care about anything. We tried to constrain them but they got out of hand. I had to shoot or innocent civilians would have been hurt."_

_Doctor Martin Lee reports that the wounds were strange, as though the individuals had tried to eat one another. Victims suffered from severe bite and scratch wounds, as though trying to eat one another. Doctor Lee believes this to be a strain of a new virus possibly linked to insanity. Umbrella's chief worker disbelieves this theory saying "it's impossible. These people were obviously stress ridden and that was what caused them to act this way." Officials wonder if there is any tie to the bizarre murder cases that had been happening prior to this case. _

Snatching up her stuff, Rebecca Chambers didn't bother to say sorry as she nearly knocked a man carrying a steaming hot latte over. In her mind she was imagining the crisis that Umbrella had on their hands. Unbelievable! How could they not have fixed their mistake the first time? Rebecca knew that she should warn someone, tell them all that they should leave. But it was too late at this point, the damage had been done and Raccoon city would end up paying for not listening to the S.T.A.R.S. members. Her main priority was Billy: would he be safe? Her footsteps echoed along the pavement of the street.

Several cars beeped at Rebecca as she dashed out in front of them like a crazy teenager. She didn't even bother to look as she rounded the corner into a side alleyway. A figure stood in her way, though she didn't see his cropped blond hair or shaded face until it was too late Colliding with the figure, Rebecca regained her footing and looked up to apologize, putting her mind in the right reality. Her heart sank as she gazed in front of her. It seemed that his timing couldn't be worse. Fear pulsed through her veins, containing the adrenaline that would save her from the person in front of her. Words came out of her mouth, lined with shock and disbelief.

"Wesker?" her eyes were wide as she backed up.

Smiling through his sunglasses, Wesker stood in front of her with his hands in his jacket pockets, a bulge forming on the right one where he, no doubt, clasped his gun. Rebecca couldn't believe that her former boss was about to kill her. Wesker had created S.T.A.R.S., they were his forever to command and now he was just throwing them away? What kind of leader destroyed ten years work on a simple whim? It made her sick to think about it…

"Where are you going so quickly?" Wesker sounded amused, "If you'll come with me Rebecca, we can settle personal matters concerning your involvement in the mansion incident. You have become a problem these past few days, I'd hate to have to waste all that training by shooting you…"

The medic knew better than to go with the shady man. They stood on a not-so-busy side street she had planned on using as a detour route, avoiding the usual roads, and he had cornered her there. Nobody would hear her if she screamed; they would turn a blind ear no doubt. Rebecca felt adrenaline lace her veins and, without thinking anymore, she bolted down another side street.

Strain met her muscles as she pushed them to run faster than they had ever. Her heart rate increased, pumped by her survival instincts. Rebecca's hair whipped against her face as she raced down the side alley way. Gunshots echoed behind her, catching spots where she had been just less than five seconds ago. The air she sucked in burned her lungs but she didn't stop. Right. Left. Straight. Right. Rebecca continued to navigate the small roads away from her true destination.

Wesker didn't waste time following her. Something about him was different, faster, as though he had been training. She was sure that she could out run him if need be. Her mistake at coming out in public burned more than the pain in her lungs. What was so important about her life? Umbrella wanted her silenced but did they really want it that badly? Rebecca couldn't think of any other reason they would hunt her down.

In a flash she had turned left into another alleyway and instantly regretted it. A large brick wall blocked her progress, several silver barrels and trash bag piles rested in the middle of the alleyway. She could hear the sound of Wesker's footsteps behind her own and, in a last effort to ditch the man, ducked behind a silver trashcan. Now her breathing became her enemy. Panting hard, she sucked in her breath. Rebecca held in the pain and the burn as the footsteps entered the tiny little alleyway.

Wesker said nothing as he scaled the alley way, eyes searching for something. Rebecca was suddenly aware that her glasses had fallen off of her face and they were sitting less than a couple of feet by her. The very thing that she had brought to protect her now sat like a red flag, giving away her position. To kick them out of sight meant being spotted but to leave them there meant suspicion. Surely enough Wesker must have seen them.

"I know you are here Rebecca, This is your last chance," he began, not even out of breath, "I might even spare you if you come quietly."

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back quietly. The girl knew that Wesker was not to be trusted and, after what she had perceived from the mansion incident, Rebecca had a good reason not to. Death would be a better option than following along with the puppeteer's schemes only to end up his lap dog in the end. Rebecca strained to hear how close he was, but the footsteps had stopped. She opened her eyes, turning to locate her assassin.

"No? Alright then," there was an amused sound to his voice, as though this were the option that he preferred.

There was the sound of the gun shooting off once more and a trash heap by Rebecca exploded in a flurry of napkins and paper plates. She noticed that the weapon had a silencer, hence the reason why no one had heard the gun shot in town. Her heart jumped up to her throat, pulse quickening as she sat there. Opening her eyes, the girl searched for some way out of the death trap she had ground herself into. Click. A barrel closer to her was knocked over, a solid hole through the middle. One more and then it was her turn.

"I know you are here Rebecca," he sighed, "if only you had made this easier and died at the mansion we wouldn't be here now."

Think fast…think fast…there had to be something! She regretted leaving her gun at the apartment, but she couldn't have just brought it with her…right? Click. Her turn next. Rebecca closed her eyes. This was it; Umbrella would get what they wanted. Poor Billy…he had tried to protect her and in the end she had been the one to lead herself to death. The magazine fell to the ground and she could hear another one being loaded. The longest minute of her life passed and sound erupted.

Only it wasn't the click of a gun, but rather a cell-phone version of _Dragostea Din Tei_. Rebecca thought she was going insane until she heard the flip of a phone being answered and then the sound of Wesker's voice out loud. It almost annoyed her that he would be haughty enough to answer the phone while he was trying to kill her. Still, she made no sound as he spoke, her breath burning her lungs as she held it there.

"Hello? Finally, I'll be there as soon as I can," he sounded a bit too pleased for Rebecca's tastes.

Click. Wesker had hung up. Rebecca could feel the tension in the air. Her heart skipped against her chest so hard that she could feel the pulse through her entire body. She waited for the sound of the bullet coming to kill her once more, minutes having morphed into hours and decades. Instead of firing the bullet that would kill her, Wesker spoke.

"I'm going to let you live for now Rebecca. Pretty soon this town will be little more than ashes, a living recreation of the Umbrella mansion. But don't think that you'll be getting out alive again," he paused, "because you _will_ die. I can't let you live now, every last member of S.T.A.R.S. must die with this city. Of course, I'm feeling generous today so I'll give you a gift; I'll let you choose the way you die; by my hands or infection from the T-virus," his voice sent a shiver down her spine.

Footsteps leading away sounded upon the pavement. She didn't move for what seemed like an hour, afraid that Wesker was trying to lead her out in the open to a trap. When she was sure he was long gone, she stood up. Shaking slightly, Rebecca Chambers began to run. How could this be happening? Wesker…had he really spread the infection among the city to get rid of the S.T.A.R.S. members? Rebecca didn't think so; rather he had taken advantage of a negative situation.

His words remained in her mind even as she continued down the street.

**Jill's Note:  
**Argh. I accidentally deleted what I'd written here so I'm a bit annoyed with myself.  
Originally I wasn't going to use Wesker but then I decided he was important and so there he is!  
Finally figured where this fic is going, though ideas are still welcome.

**Notes to the Readers:  
**_Vogue Dirge_ - ZOMG. I can't believe you picked that up. Good Job! Yay for a fellow Leggy Fan!  
_Azuey_ - I agree with the favorite's thing. I had WAY too much fun writing that chapter.  
_Gotta Dance 88_ - Still interested in bouncing ideas off of me? Reach me at my YIM address hachi-underscore-glamour  
_Hyperactive Hamster Of Doom_ - I'll be updating every week! Thanks for the inspiring comments.  
Everyone else thanks for your support!  
Much Love,  
Jill


	4. Umbrella's Visitor

All content pertaining to Resident Evil is copywrite to Capcom.

**Umbrella's Visitor **

-Chapter Four-

_So then why were you following me?_ Rebecca's words were still clear in his mind. He hadn't answered her question mainly because he couldn't find the answer within himself. Billy Coen had no idea why he had tracked her down and taken to watching over her. In his mind he told himself that it was a way of thanking her for letting him go but somehow that seemed only half-right. People passed him by as he walked down the street, his gun concealed on his person.

Billy was wearing a black muscle shirt and plain jeans, an old jacket that had been lying around covered the rest of his chest. It wasn't that he liked the jacket, rather he didn't want anyone to see the handgun that he carried; that would make for pleasant conversation. For one of the first times in his life he found himself feeling undecided about things. Should he have left a note for Rebecca? She wouldn't go outside of the apartment…right? But that wasn't his business, he wasn't keeping her hostage. Billy was not amused with his thoughts.

When last he saw her she had been slumbering peaceful on the bed where he had placed her the night before. Billy may have been an ex-convict but that didn't stop him from being a gentleman. Rebecca…why couldn't she just have a peaceful life undaunted by Umbrella? The girl was barely even participating against the large cooperate company! Anger welled through him at the idea that they would think about killing such an innocent girl…especially Rebecca.

Automatic glass doors swung open as his foot tripped the censor and, uninterested in anything but the building before him, he stepped into the company building. Disturbingly plain white walls met his eyes, as though he had walked into a really light room after being in the dark for a long time. The only color in the entire room came from the woman behind the desk, a bright blue blouse.

It was obvious that she was the guardian for the door leading into the more important rooms. There was no way he was getting passed unnoticed. All he needed was a little slip from the system to get him inside the upper levels; it wasn't going to be hard to get the lady to let her guard down. Wearing his best smile, Billy approached the counter.

"Hello, can I help you?" the woman in blue asked.

Dark eyes fell down to her badge, resting around her neck with a mug-shot picture printed upon it. Above the badge read the words 'Umbrella', followed by the red and white logo that haunted Billy's nightmares. Obviously overjoyed at the idea of taking to such an attractive man, the woman smoothed a hand over her curly brown hair. There was a certain sparkle to her eyes that hadn't been there before Billy entered.

"Just browsing," he joked, hoping that she had a good sense of humor, least she call security on him.

He could only imagine Rebecca scolding him for getting in trouble. At this point in his life, Billy didn't care about the small stuff anymore, not when the world had turned its back on him. The only person who had believed him…he stopped himself; that wasn't what he should be thinking about now.

"By all means, browse," she laughed, "but if you have an appointment with someone I'd be glad to help you," the woman leaned forwards slightly, showing off her low-cut shirt.

Any other time, any other life, Billy would've enjoyed a woman who was flaunty and liked to show off her body, but something had changed that for him. Coming face to face with death had made simple things like that seem unimportant. Now he just found her forwardness degrading. Either way she was going to mess up today because Billy wouldn't leave until he'd gotten more information on Umbrella.

"Well in that case…" he began, hands in his pockets, "I have an appointment with Mr. William Birkin. He told me to be here around noon but I got caught up in traffic. Hopefully he hasn't already left?" Billy questioned, a certain sort of spark in his eyes that she appeared entranced by.

The woman seemed to have heard only half of what he'd said, her eyes digging into his frame as though he were made of ice cream. Billy felt slightly disturbed. Were all of Umbrella's secretaries _this _out there? None the less, he gave her the best smile he could muster up. If she could have melted, the brown-haired woman would have been nothing more than a puddle on the floor.

"Mr. Albert Wesker? Funny, I pictured you…less, uh, buff," she began and then hastily added, "not that this is a problem, I mean, you _are _attractive…" the woman turned a light shade of crimson, the blush bringing out the delicate curves of her face. Billy tried not to let his disinterest reflect on his face, covering it up with an award-winning grin.

Albert Wesker? What was _that _guy doing talking to the head of Umbrella? That would explain how Umbrella got access to Rebecca's private information. Wesker was the creator of S.T.A.R.S., why would he want to bring them down? The idea that he would do such a thing was baffling, but Billy didn't rule it out. S.T.A.R.S. had become a threat to the corporation, regardless of being his creation; they were still carrying the knowledge of what Umbrella was truly doing. He believed what he was hearing; power could change people into something that they were never meant to be.

Seeming to drown in her words, the woman swept her body out from behind the counter and ushered for Billy to follow her. She swiped her card down a scanner and the doors opened in front of them. He followed her down a hallway, passing a higher notch of security than he could not have gotten by without the woman's card key. Much to his surprise Billy didn't even have to show his ID, though he eyed the metal detector that stretched out in front of them. In about five seconds it wouldn't matter who this woman thought he was because he would have to remove his gun.

Readying himself for the worse, Billy continued down the hallway. Flick. Flick. The lights above them flickered as though the bulbs were dying. The woman paused, as though this was strange to her. Suddenly the main lighting dimmed to nothing, shutting them into an unusual blackness. She gasped, feeling intimidated by the sudden loss of power. Annoyance was written over her face.

"That's odd," she paused, "would you mind waiting here? I'm going to make sure everything is alright at the front desk…" with a reluctant smile, the blue-clad woman whipped down the hallway on high heels that would have killed any sensible woman.

Billy took this opening as a bit of good luck. Crossing the borderline of the metal detector without so much as a beep, he proceeded down the hallway and out of sight. The lights flickered on once more and then there was power. Footsteps echoed from the corner of the hallway around him. Rushed but not panicked, Billy searched for a route that would hide him from the views of the oncoming individuals. His eyes fixed on the nearest door and Billy grabbed the doorknob, pulling himself inside of what appeared to be a filing room. Leaning against the inside of the door frame, he listened to the voices.

"I don't know what went wrong!" a younger man said, his voice annoyed, "one second I was working and the next the power flickers! Do you know how dangerous something like that in a lab like this is?" he raised his voice.

"Honey," a woman's voice soothed, "I'm sure its nothing …remember how you said we should make another? …already done that. I put it…" she sounded proud, her voice too soft for him to entirely make out.

"Good, they'll never know she has it…" their voices were growing distant now until finally they faded with a flash of white around the corner.

The coast surprisingly clear, Billy Coen examined his surroundings. Inside the room were several file cabinets, each containing variously marked files regarding Umbrella research no doubt. It looked like some sort of data storage room for figures and budgets. Billy paused, wondering if these documents were important enough to waste time looking at. The decision was a firm yes. To his right rested a desk, several documents spread across the table. Curious, Billy let his eyes trace the words in between the lines.

_He still resists the pull of the virus, it's been about several weeks and our mutation just doesn't infect him the way it should. Rather than becoming a regular zombie, he has grown in the ways we have pushed him to. The project is excellent…the perfect fighter, he will be a valuable asset to hunt down the remaining S.T.A.R.S. members, if we are ever given the chance. Albert has suggested a most fascinating idea; implant a mission within its mind. By manipulating the cerebral waves we can control this beast, making him the perfect killing machine. The Nemesis experiment has been a blazing success. Chris Redfield, Barry Burton, Jill Valentine, Brad Vickers, and Rebecca Chambers, former S.T.A.R.S. members, don't stand a chance; though they will provide excellent combat data and training for our new test subject. _

Around him the lights flickered once more but Billy didn't pay attention, his eyes flipped to the other document resting besides the one he had just read. He soaked up as much as he could, the news of the creature Nemesis sparking anger in his heart.

_William, in regards to my destruction of the manor, I can assure you that nobody will ever figure out what we've done there. Obviously all experiments have been destroyed, including our prison program. I told the warden that we'd have to redirect all arriving convicts due to the destruction of our mansion. I understand that we can continue this project in the Ashford base, so I will hereby send a note to the prison. _

_ I'm sure that creep Alfred will keep a close eye on them. Maybe we can get some more research on our lost Tyrant data? These prisoners will serve as perfect experimentation material. Who will miss them? They were going to die anyways so why not in the name of science? My only concern is that we keep the project shaded from the eyes of those who would seek to destroy it. Who can truly understand the love of science that we share? _

He stopped reading, something inside of him feeling rather sick. Had that had been where he was headed? Had they intended to use him for their sick little experiments as well? Billy felt a wave of anger pass over him as his mind considered such words. Using human beings 'in the love of science' was just a sick excuse that they had invented for torture. Maybe it had been a good thing Marcus D. Duval had come back from the dead to ruin Umbrella's plans. And what was this about Rebecca and the creature Nemesis?

Surely they wouldn't be stupid enough to release something inside the city with all these people around…

Voices from down the hall caught his ears.

"I don't know…I looked one way and then he was gone," the lady in blue sounded troubled, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch his ID. I, I really thought he was Mr. Albert Wesker! He looked so much like him…" she lied, obviously trying to dig herself out of the hole she had fallen into. Had it been any other company worker than Billy might have felt bad for her but Umbrella had tried to kill Rebecca and him, he certainly wasn't going to show pity.

"You stupid, stupid woman!" the male's voice from before yelled, "How could you just let a common _citizen _into our company. We have a high cooperate business and you just let a strange man pretending to be a guest stroll around? You're lucky I don't fire you right now where you stand," he started but a voice stopped him. Billy leaned into the wall, trying to hear better or at least catch a glimpse of what was going on. His efforts were in vain and he continued listening to the voices instead.

"Having problems William?" the voice was cool, almost satisfied.

"No, it's nothing. As I told you on the phone, I've finished the data on Nemesis," he spoke smugly.

He resisted the urge to charge out, fire his gun, and beat the crud out of these people for what they had planned for both Rebecca and him. Self-restraint was a beautiful thing at this moment. The footsteps grew louder though, much to Billy's dismay, they stopped outside of the room. Billy was once again hugging the inner wall, sucking in his breath as though he were afraid breathing too loudly would cue the men to his whereabouts. For a second Billy thought that they had spotted him, but then the conversation resumed.

"Excellent!" but Wesker stopped himself short, "unfortunately we have a problem. The virus was leaked into the city. I don't know how. If we don't act now we'll have more problems than a disobedient secretary," Wesker finished, sounding collected considering the situation.

As if to emphasize Wesker's words, the lights flickered and turned off. Darkness enveloped the entire building, both office and hallway. Outside of the room the two men stirred uncomfortably. The sound of a gun's safety being clicked off filled the hallway. Billy's hand fell to his own gun, pulling it out of his jacket in a slow motion. Suddenly the emergency lights flickered on, bathing the room in bright-red light. Footsteps and troubled voices echoed in the hallway behind him.

"Damnit…I'll secure the virus, you deal with the infection," William instructed.

Wesker must have nodded because his booted footfalls echoed on the hallway ground. Not soon after the entire hall was quiet enough to hear a pin bounce on the floor. Billy tried to grip what he had heard. The T-virus had been leaked? Victims released? His heart leapt to his throat. Rebecca! She was still at home! Heart pounding, he didn't waste time running around the corner to the stair's emergency exit.

Rebecca was in trouble.

**Jill's Note:  
**Hey, I know this chapter is a little sloppy but hopefully it makes sense.  
Yeah, I knew that Dragon Stea Din Tei was after Raccoon City's time, I just love it too much.  
Also, on the same note, I don't write for acuracy, I write my beliefs and how I see things for the story.  
No i'm not bashing people for being critical about my stories; I like tips. Just saying I write for fun & amusement.  
School's Starting up so things might slow down. I've got about two more chapters saved & then I might run into trouble.  
Thanks for sticking with me this far guys, i'm really liking how this turned out!  
Comments are Love!  
Much Love,  
Jill


	5. Into A Nightmare

All content pertaining to Resident Evil is copywrite to Capcom

**Into A Nightmare **

-Chapter Five-

Something about the out doors had changed since Billy had first emerged. Ominous clouds had overtaken the tired sun, smothering the last bit of sparkling sunlight. Darkness swirled around him, threatening to swallow Raccoon city whole it seemed. Pretty soon the night would be upon them. Billy stepped forwards, into the peaceful city that would soon become a chaotic death trap. Hand tucked once more in his jacket pocket, Billy prowled the street, resisting the urge to look too conspicuous and run.

Rebecca…was she safe? Obviously nothing dangerous had emerged in this part of the city but were the other parts zombie-infested? For once Billy found his wishes following that of Umbrella's; silence the epidemic and save the town. In front of him a woman tripped, several young men approaching the attractive lady so as to help her up. A blood-curdling scream echoed through the air, making Billy stop dead in his tracks.

"Help me!" she cried, among the ground, "somebody save me!" spasms shook her body and Billy found his heart freezing within his chest. More people crowded around the obviously ill woman but Billy knew that she was a lost cause. He hadn't known that the infection could spread this quickly, or in live humans, but apparently there was a first time for everything.

"Someone call and ambulance! She's going into seizures!" a man yelled. Billy moved to yell out to the people surrounding her.

Pushing off with his right foot, Ex Lt. Coen ran towards the man who was now holding her down. If the man had known what was about to happen he would have left the girl well enough alone. Billy's mind was working, wondering how best to approach this, he couldn't stand by and watch people killed again. These people were only innocents that would soon fall victim to a larger force…just as before.

"Get away from her!" Billy yelled as loud as he could at the group.

But he was too late and another man's disbelief stretched out among the crowd. It seemed as time had slowed down just for this moment, to remind him of what he had endured at the hands of Umbrella. Then again, he would have been dead if it hadn't been for their mistakes…

"She bit me!" the man cried, holding his hand to his chest.

Suddenly the woman lunged at the people surrounding her. No longer human in any way, she reached out with greedy hands at the nearest human. Panic spread through out the crowd, the man with his bitten hand seemed to be running into shock, as though he didn't believe someone would bite him. Unflinchingly Billy pulled the handgun out. Bang, Bang. The woman fell, dead, but the damage had been done. Various peoples among the large throng of people cried out in pain as their infected wounds began to take them over, the T Virus releasing its poison.

It was futile trying to save them now.

A woman with cropped black hair latched on to his arm as Billy began to run. Pulling the fabric of his jacket towards blood-stained teeth, the creature moaned out loud. Billy jerked his arm upwards so that it hit the chin of the zombie. The response was not as expected, claw-like finger nails gripping the leather. He slid his arms out of the dark fabric, the zombie falling from the lack of pressure.

"Sorry but I've already got a date," he unloaded a shot in between those blood-thirsty eyes.

Like a rag doll the zombie fell to the ground. Never daring to waste time, Billy launched himself into a run. Hands clutched at his person, some human others less than so, but Billy only brushed them off. Erasing the faces of victims and monsters alike, Billy ran towards his only destination. The muscles of his body were not even phased by the quick jog he had pushed them into, long days of nothing but training had left his body expecting the work out.

"Rebecca…you better be alright…" he called to the darkness.

---

Fire burned in her lungs and still Rebecca kept running; her legs wouldn't take much more. Giving in to the pain of pushing your body, the young medic stopped at the corner of her street. She was breathing heavily. A small cut on her arm from her dodge behind the trash cans caught her eyes but she didn't register it. While Rebecca could easily just whip out the medical kit she had stored in her bag to apply rubbing alcohol to it, she didn't see the point in stopping.

Voices echoed down the street, the sky a mix of hot painted pastels. Soon it would be dark…how had time passed that fast? Rebecca was sure the motel had been closer than this. Her emerald gaze followed the rushed voices to the end of the strip she had been about to turn on. Several police cars lined the streets, blocking off the access to any cars or people. Rebecca found herself curious but not enough to inquire. The police were, however, blocking off the road that led to the motel room.

She would have to sneak by using one of the side alleys.

Regaining her breath, she pushed off on her right foot once more. The burning sensation in her lungs was minimal as she drew in the September air. Creeping down the side of the brick alley, Rebecca tuned her ears towards her surroundings. Unfortunately her mind wandered as she prowled the side street. Billy…where was he now? Was he alright? Why did she care so much about him? There were other people she should be worrying about too…like Jill and Brad. But they were S.T.A.R.S. members; surely they had already prepped for something like this.

A hand clasped around her wrist and Rebecca sucked in the air around her, forming a gasp. She whipped around to gaze into the eyes of a police officer. Assault rifle resting at his side, the man gazed at her through worried eyes. For a second she thought he was a zombie, but then he spoke to her as a human would.

"Miss, I can't let you go that way; it's dangerous. You'll be safer if you stay with the unit," he spoke.

Rebecca knew what she wanted to do, regardless of safe. It didn't matter whether or not this place was safe. Billy wasn't here. Besides, infection would tare the ranks apart; waiting here was like taking a last stand. She pulled her hand out of the man's grips, giving him a cool smile. It wasn't like her to want to cause trouble but this man had no idea what was going to happen to him or her; he wouldn't have been worrying about others if he did.

"I'll be alright," she assured him, but the man wouldn't take no for an answer. Rebecca moved to walk away but found that his cold fingers had somehow grabbed hold of her arm and were holding her in one spot against her will. The last drop of sunlight had faded, the darkness approaching them like a swarm of angry bees.

"I won't let you by, come with me," he gripped her arm tighter, pulling her towards the unit and further away from finding Billy. Rebecca wanted to break free from the grasps of the man but she didn't want to hurt him. It would be better to humor the man and slip away once the chaos enveloped them.

She let him lead her closer to the conflict, the flashing of police lights echoed along the side of the alleyway. Rebecca searched around her, imagining she saw the glowing of eyes from the darkness. Something was going to happen; she could tell that the virus was among them. It had already gripped the city; Wesker was right and she hated him even more for it. How could Umbrella just stand by and let something like this happen?

Suddenly gunfire erupted in front of them; the last stand had begun. Rebecca tried desperately to find a way out of the man's death grip. She found no loop holes other than hurting him. However, his behavior had shifted with the promise of a conflict, an enemy pursuing him. He seemed shocked to be missing the fight and let his guard down for a second. That was all she needed. Rebecca took her chance, snapping her arm down into his side and pulling out of his grips. It wasn't a hard hit but it was something that would make him let go. The man instantly protested; the pain that ran through his side something he obviously wasn't expecting.

"Sorry, I've got to find him," she yelled to the man.

He was about to chase after her when a growl from the shadows caught his attentions. The man yelled and the sound of gunfire could be heard. Rebecca didn't look back as she ran; it was beginning. Screams and gunshots echoed through the air but Rebecca turned a deaf ear to them; there was nothing she could help with if she didn't have a gun. When the sun had gone all shreds of the normal life she had returned to had gone away with it. This was the decent into the nightmare and she was once again to play the part of the victim.

Only this time she was alone.

Behind her the sounds of padded feet on the ground, something was pursuing her. The barking of the hungry animals as they smelled the blood from the tiny cut on her arm. Perhaps they smelled her scent and thought of a T-bone steak as well, she couldn't tell what was in their minds, only that they were hunting her. Rebecca could feel fear eating away at her insides. Why hadn't she brought her gun? A howl of joy at the site of a new kill shook one of the beasts as it chased after her. Rebecca didn't look back for fear of what she would see.

In front of her stretched the silver fencing of someone's yard. She gripped the fence with both hands and hauled her body over. Tumbling on the ground beneath her, Rebecca Chambers pulled herself up so as to avoid becoming lunch. Scraping the ground, her wrist began to bleed and hurt as she pushed off from it. But nothing mattered right now except finding Billy and escaping this demonic world once more. Her heart pounded as she sped over the grass, tearing it up with her sneakers.

The people who lived there remained oblivious to what was going on around them; the dark had taken them to a peaceful sleep they would never wake up from. Rebecca stretched passed the house, not wanting to draw the animals behind her inside towards the family that lived there. She emerged on the far end of the yard, a perfect repeat of the Wesker incident laid before her. To her left was a solid garage, the right another house, and in front of her…an obstacle that she couldn't break in five seconds.

"Damnit!" she cried, seeing a painted wooden fence with a bolted door in front of her.

She slammed her body into the door, trying to break the padlock. Pain erupted through her side but she continued to do this. Survive, she had to survive. Metal clanked but she made no progress, the thick bolt was doing a good job at keeping her locked in. It would be no use to try and break this lock; the metal wouldn't give. Behind her the sounds of panting could be heard from the creatures that stalked her.

Rebecca searched for another route like a rabbit caught in a snare trap. Trashcans and a garage door were her only escape exits, both of which were dead options. She knocked her foot into the trashcan, tipping it over, but the item in question flopped over to reveal just trash. There was nothing she could possibly use as a weapon, and, quite honestly, why would there have been? Rebecca stopped in her tracks, eyes looking upwards into glowing red orbs. Her hunter emerged in the light of the spotlight; slowly creeping up on it's pray.

A dog unlike anything she had ever seen before stretched in front of her. Mange crept up the creature's back; its eyes were a shade of crimson that matched its blood-stained jaws. Around its body the skin was peeled back to reveal both bone and innards, though the creature still lived. Its mouth was pulled into a permanent snarl, teeth so thick a shade of crimson that she could only guess it had already claimed victims. The size of a Great Dane, the dog let out a piercing bark to signal its friends of the fine catch.

Frantic now, Rebecca's eyes darted from the garage door to the grisly hunter. There was no way she would be able to get it opened without the dog taking a chunk out of her leg. As it advanced, the young medic backed up. She gasped when her back hit the wall behind her. Had she been in a stable sate, Rebecca would have expected that. Above her the night sky stretched out, darkness speckled with glittering stars. A full moon greeted her emerald eyes, bathing the chaos in a silver moonlight.

"I'm sorry Billy," she said, the creature less than five feet away.

Uncalled for, the creature leased a bone-curdling howl and lunged for her. Rebecca shut her eyes, kneeling down so as to protect the most important parts of her body. She waited for those large canines to bite down into her arm, tare her limb from limb as she crouched there helpless. The moment seemed to have stretched out, as intense times do. Rebecca kept anticipating the bite, only it never happened.

A gunshot echoed in her ears instead, a yelp following it. Thud. Something hit the ground and it wasn't her. Rebecca's mind was puzzled, hands shaking from the close encounter with death. Someone had killed the beast before it could do the same to her. Rebecca felt the air around her shift, a slight breeze meeting her body as someone jumped down behind her.

"Giving up already?" a familiar voice spoke.

Rebecca opened her eyes.

**Jill's Note:  
**As I've told you, my life is like the circus; busy and full of clowns.  
Okay okay, BAD analogy, but I AM really busy and this is my last reserve chapter.  
I'm really happy you guys put this story on alert because who knows when I'll be able to squeeze out another chapter?  
Anyhow, my story IS getting dangerously close to a chick-flick romance and I'm trying REALLY hard to stay away from that...  
BUT don't kill me if it ends up being entirely centered on Billy and Rebecca. Heehee. I can't help it!  
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I promise you I'm not making Rebecca a pathetic-always-being-saved girl, she'll get her spunk back!  
This has gotten WAY too long, take care.  
Much Love & Peace,  
Jill

Ps. I really didn't get time to thumb through this chapter so there will be A LOT of silly errors. Feel free to mock me.-.-


	6. Plans Gone Wrong

All content pertaining to Resident Evil is copy write to Capcom

**Plans Gone Wrong**

-Chapter Six-

Before them the city glistened with the orange glow of fire, adding light to the dark night that stretched around them. Shards of glass sparkled on the asphalt their tiny surfaces fragmenting the city's image in a proper rendition of chaos. The two stood, gun in hand, hearts sinking as they beheld what had once been their home, their memories, and their safe haven.

The click of a shotgun being reloaded caused the small-framed woman to jump slightly, her trigger finger tightening against the cool steel. A certain sort of gloom had descended upon the duo, an unspoken one. They were two about to face an army of undead who felt no pain, no emotion, nothing. The only thing in an infected mind was hunger; food; _humans_. Just exactly what was the population of Raccoon City? 200? 600? 2000?

"We need a plan." Billy's words were firm, his face stretched in an expression of seriousness.

"You? A plan?" She couldn't stop her eyebrow from rising, the corner of her mouth twitched into a small smile but she stopped it. "All right lieutenant, you're in charge. Just say the word."

From the street nearby a series of gunshots could be heard; the crew shivered at the idea. They knew well enough that there were survivors there; cops maybe, didn't they know it was futile? She felt the tug on her conscience to run to their aid weighed down by the fear of becoming one of the many bodies.

"You know we can't help them," a hand rested on her shoulder for a few seconds and the gunshots ended, silence surrounded them once again.

Rebecca felt her insides twist a little. What if that had been them? A stern determination erupted from her fiery personality; it wouldn't be them, they were survivors damnit!

"There," she pointed to the building that towered above the rest and irony hit them.

It was an ominous spire that pierced the midnight sky with its bright lights, towering above a tiny city too naive to realize the dangers that lay within: The Umbrella building. Of course it would be the best escape route to take, it was probably the only area NOT infected.

"You want to go to the zombie hide out?" His voice was almost joking. The area around them had gotten unusually quiet and Rebecca found herself feeling uneasy, illuminated by the streetlight.

"It's the tallest building, it's Umbrella's building, if there's going to be a helicopter or a rescue effort it'll be there, I'm sure they want their head braniacs out so they can ruin more people's lives." She paused and then added, "Do you think they are really going to let us cross those barricades and run free into the potentially zombie-infested woods?"

Her words hit home as Billy was silent, hands resting on his shotgun as though it was a piece of his hands. Anyone other than Rebecca might have been afraid of the way he held the weapon, but she knew his intentions were good.

A silent mutual agreement passed between the two and Rebecca began to access their assets; one med pack, two handguns, a shotgun, an M-16, and a … lighter? Something told her they were in trouble. The ruffling of bodies to their right muted anything that the two might have further conversed.

Humans. Cops. Four of them with blood-splattered uniforms and faces twisted in horror at the army they had unleashed. The streetlight around them smashed with the weight of something much bigger than normal.

"Stay back!" one of the officers warned his crew, unaware of the pair standing befuddled behind them.

The officer the farthest to the right, just rounding the corner, let out a piercing scream as blood-stained hands wrapped around his arm. In seconds he was in the air, being tossed around like a rag doll. His comrades unloaded their clips into the black shell twisted with skin that covered him.

Rebecca stared in horror at the way the creature's mouth was twisted back to reveal large yellow teeth thick with saliva. She felt herself backing up. Billy stood horrified besides her as they watched the next scene play out before them. It wasn't just zombies anymore apparently.

"Rob!" a woman's voice screamed as the man was slammed against the pavement. Bone snapped on the impact and the creature continued its slow amble towards the team.

Grief stricken, the female officer charged the beast. Her end came swift, in the form of a backhand with the force of a bulldozer. Neck snapped, she fell to the ground like a crumpled piece of paper. Rebecca's hand froze on her gun, as it had the first time she'd made contact with an enemy.

Not now, not again.

"S.T.A.R.S." The creature leased its foul breath upon the world, the tiny slit where his beady eye was focused upon the cops. He bashed one of the remaining cops as though he were nothing but a toothpick; the gun that had once been a placebo for safety clattered to the ground uselessly.

It was a creature with one function: to kill. The raspy voice was enough to make anyone faint on the spot. S.T.A.R.S.? How did it know S.T.A.R.S.? Was it hunting them? Hunting _her_? Suddenly Rebecca felt like a bird trapped in the cage with a cat.

The last cop found his gun suddenly less useful, one of them running out completely. Click. Ciick. Empty. Click. Click. Click. It can't be empty. Click Click Click! No. Click. He looked up into that eye, seeing his death there. Click. Click. Dead.

"STARS," the creature paused, turning its head (if possible), towards their direction.

Rebecca felt her body ice over; her heart was lead, rock, steel, sinking to the bottom of her insides with the threat of exploding at the bottom. It was hunting stars. Hunting her. She was going to die. Wesker's words burned fire in her mind. Suddenly the abomination was too close, within an arm's reach.

"Damnit," Billy cursed, "run Rebecca!"

Less than a few feet away, the creature continued its ominous walk, steps probably the length of a human. Click. BANG. Billy unloaded his shotgun into that ugly, peeled face without any comforting results. She watched as the creature reached out to grab Billy in seemingly slow motion. His hand swung, knocking her companion to the ground. Billy moaned and the mutation moved to flatten him with his boulder-like fists.

"Noooo!" she screamed, heart racing, limbs suddenly filled with fire to melt the icy chill that had settled into her limbs.

Without thinking she fired shots into that marred face, her bullets sticking into the dead flesh like a collection of scars. It was no use but it had turned the killer's attentions from Billy to herself: its true target.

Wasting a few more bullets on the creature, Rebecca felt the creature about to grasp her neck. She rolled on the ground, back and body crunching against broken class and pavement pebbles. The ground around her vibrated as those thick hands crushed where she had been seconds ago.

Rebecca moved to fire close range but the creature was too fast for her. She felt those armored fists crash into her back, sending her spiraling forwards into a parked car. Her forehead hit dead center on the taillight and she fell to the ground, struggling to get up, the world spinning.

World spinning, Rebecca tried to pay attention to what was going on around them. Everything had gone by too fast. Her fingers groped around for her gun, which was lying not too far, running over empty bullet shells. Something circular brushed her fingertips. She turned in the direction of the object which happened to be connected to a dead cop's hip.

Things suddenly became very clear to her, despite the haze she was seeing the world through. Well aware that in five seconds or less she was about to become nothing more than a splat on the pavement, Rebecca rushed to unclip the grenade from its belt holster. She didn't even question why it was there in the first place.

"Sorry," she felt her stomach twist in knots as she yanked the green ball from its place, "please don't hit Billy."

Click, the pin slid out easily. Rebecca's vision blurred and she struggled to find the black bulk that stood out on an even blacker street. The ball landed on the ground at the black bulk's feet. A second passed. Nothing. A dud?

Flames erupted first, followed by the shrapnel of rubble and glass, Rebecca shielded her eyes, half rolling behind the car so that most of the blast would be absorbed by the metal. Something hard hit her head and pushed her forwards. The ground itself was moving, caving in.

Before she could hold onto anything she was swallowed up by the darkness once again.

**Authors Note:  
I'm back and inspired and will definitely finish this eventually I promise!  
Thanks for reading, hopefully this chapter is back up to snuff.  
And Special thanks to my new editor: Lorelei the White =] **


	7. Below Ground

All content pertaining to Resident Evil is copy write to Capcom

**Below the Ground**

-Chapter Seven-

_"Giving up already?" _

_Rebecca opened her eyes, emerald spheres to reveal what appeared to be her one and only savoir; lieutenant Billy Coen standing tall with what would appear to be the worlds biggest shot gun in his hands, locked and loaded. Anyone else might have turned tail under the powerful impression he led off but Rebecca found the corners of her pink lips turning upwards into a smile._

_"Billy!" she cried and forgot about the whole zombie apocalypse of Raccoon city for five seconds. Her slender fingers wrapped behind those broad shoulders and for a second she let herself be embraced against Billy's muscular chest. Something about being there felt safe, it felt right._

_"Whoa, I didn't know I was so popular," Billy grinned, though through the guise of those chocolate brown eyes anyone could see the feelings of worry embedded into the detailed irises. Billy patted Rebecca on the back slightly, as though unsure of where this had come from but the smile that was on his face told otherwise._

_"Hey, you didn't leave me a note or anything and you TOLD me you had no job," she pulled away from the half hug to stare accusingly into those brown eyes, a hint of playfulness in her words, "just where the heck did you go anyways?"_

_"If I told you that I'd have to kill you," that damn grin was on Billy's face again, mocking and teasing her at the same time it was driving her crazy. Rebecca let go and scowled in the ex marine's general direction. She could feel the chills that the hunt she had almost been killed in had left, though they were slowly fading away as she joked._

_"Fine don't tell me, it's not like I almost just didn't die or anything," Rebecca joked but placed a serious face on as she looked at where they really stood. Things were different here, crowded, suddenly stifling, and very dangerous. What had once been their home was now a very dangerous cage that they had to find their way out of or die…again. _

_They were reliving their worst nightmares, the only person to blame was the black and white logo of the Umbrella Corporation and its latest founder; Albert Wesker, traitor to his very own S.T.A.R.S. team._

_"I'm glad I got here or I'd be out one look out for this zombie survival trip," he teased but mirrored her seriousness, "I'm glad you're okay doll face, you had me worried for a bit there. I got you a present because I know you get into too much trouble," he handed her something cold and metallic, the typical hand gun that S.T.A.R.S. officers use; her weapon of choice. _

Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop. It was Chinese water torture at its best. Each drop threatened to dig deeper into her mind, thickening the pressure of her headache. A slow trail of something snaked its way down her forehead, across the curves of her nose and over her cheek in a matter of minutes. She lay there, listening the drip drop as the world and all its problems suddenly came clear to her.

Where was Billy? Something hard pressed against her back. In fact something hard pressed against her side, her front, her right leg, and maybe even her arm, or was it just splayed out funny? Wait, where was she? Rebecca moved onto her side while accompanied by the sounds of rock against rock. Drip. Drop. She moved to sit up and a rain of pebbles and dust moved off of her, scattering to the floor beneath her. Floor? It didn't feel very stable.

A weak attempt to open her eyes ended in a brightness that forced her eyes to narrow. She moved to wipe the water trail on her face, spotting an unusual color on her hand. Crimson? Rebecca watched the progress of her vision as she came to. Images sharpened, textures were painted, the brightness suddenly wasn't so bright, the crimson on her hands was…blood?!

She shifted slightly only to be accompanied by the sound of metal scraping pavement. In a slow movement Rebecca looked upwards, catching her gasp in her throat before it punctured the area around her. What had once been a street was now a dark underground tunnel, a sewer, and where she had once laid now sat a 1.5 ton piece of scrap metal threatening to fall at any sudden movement.

Rebecca slid her foot out, trying to find a piece of ground that wasn't underneath the mutilated death trap. She found her piece in the form of gushing sewage water about an inch deep.

"Yuck!" Rebecca frowned, but continued to shift her weight.

Had she seriously ended up underground from a simple grenade? The idea made her mind run circles around itself. What about Billy? Was he okay? Was he here too? Worry flared up inside of her and her emerald gaze swept the immediate area.

"Billy…" she trailed off, making the full transition into the sludge of Raccoon City.

Rebecca did a quick surveying of her surroundings and, much to her dismay, found no Billy or nothing that could be used to protect herself. Her gun was nowhere to be found, probably sitting on the street above. Wait, was that a hand? Rebecca's pulse sped. She knelt down to the piece of rubble where the hand was sticking out with horrible thoughts in her head. It couldn't be Billy!

Wrapping her fingers along the pale hand, Rebecca gave the body a good yank, hearing a very unreassuringly loud scrape of metal that accompanied her yanking. She pulled harder and the rubble gave way. The body flung out, Rebecca with it, into the slimy sewer waters. Heart pounding, she flipped the corpse over to reveal a placid, blood-spattered face of one of the cops from before.

His dark brown hair clung to blood spatters along his forehead, mouth parted slightly as though he still breathed. Along his uniform the words Raccoon Police Department had been embroidered and Rebecca let out a sigh of relief. It was just a dead guy, not Billy. Her heart sank at the peaceful picture he proposed and she sank down to raid whatever gear he had left feeling a little too much like she was a grave robber.

These cops had once been her friends and she had been the newbie on the team so learning names had not been exactly easy but from what Rebecca guessed of the victim he was called in from another department of Raccoon City. There was no use thinking about it right? The cop was already dead and she would be too if she didn't move it. With only one purpose on her mind, she moved forwards in hopes of reaching the towering building that watched over the darkened city.

Behind her the shadows danced with the darkness, the only lights in the sewer seemed to be emergency lights strictly for this occasion. They bathed the sludge and grit in a fluorescent so bright that it made Rebecca wonder about the normal brightness of the normal lights. This seemed like a lot of electricity for such a small tunnel…

What seemed like minutes had somehow turned into hours. Hours that went so slow that they almost seemed like days. Days that she didn't have time for. Four tunnels, two sludgy hallways, and a dead end later, Rebecca Chambers found herself regretting throwing that hand grenade. Surely the grenade hadn't made the pavement crack and let the street swallow her into the sewers? That seemed almost too conveniently inconvenient. Her mind raced as she considered hell's assassin standing tall with that blood-stained grin.

What _was _that thing? And how had it known that she was a member of S.T.A.R.S.? Dangerous ideas floated through her head and she had just enough time to push them back before her foot caught in an indent and she was sent face first into what she hoped was just shower water.

"YUCK!" Rebecca fussed, spitting out whatever she imagined had entered her mouth, bringing her arm to wipe away any green chunks that had littered her face, "that is SO disgusting! I'm going to brush my teeth for HOURS!" she yelled, helping herself up.

Her tank top was slightly soaked with god knows what as she stood up, trying in vain to brush off the trash-lined goop. Who knew what that crap was? Annoyed, exhausted, and ready to kill someone, Rebecca sat down on the cement ledge of the sewer and placed her head on her hands. What was she going to do? How long were these tunnels and what would be the point of going above ground if things were just worse there? A sigh escaped her lips.

"Wish I could get a second opinion," she sighed defeated, leaning her head back to hit the graying cement wall. She closed her eyes for a second, cold steel in her hand reassuring her that there would be another day.

_This isn't the end. It can't be. There is no way that Billy and I would die after escaping that mansion. I can't give up now, what if Billy is already at the building? Damnit if I could just…_

Something nearby made a sloshing noise, as though something had brushed the water and caused it to move. Rebecca jolted back to reality like a person who had been about to enter the stage where day dreaming seemed like reality, head jerk included. Emerald eyes watched the sludge around her for movements that didn't come. Sighing, she repositioned her head against the wall and found herself leaning on a big metal bar.

"OW!" she cussed, rubbing her head and turning around to look at a pair of cheap iron stairs fastened to a cement wall leading up to an unknown piece of the city. When reality hit, it hit pretty damn hard.

Shaking her head, Rebecca stood and placed a slender hand on the rusted iron and bracing her weight on the first step. The metal beneath her clinked with each step, pale fingers finally reaching the tip of the manhole cover. How did anyone expect her to lift that heavy cover up and maintain her balance on the slender stairs?

Accompanied by scraping sounds, the large metal rim moved maybe five millimeters to the right. Rebecca had to place her gun in a side pocket as she attempted to move the immobile object. With a great heave, the young S.T.A.R.S. member hoisted the metal plate so that it moved enough to crack light and eventually scraped along enough so that she could fit her head outside of the gaping hole. The light above was almost too much for her to bear and she squinted against the brightness, moving her grip on the ladder so that she brushed something slimy.

"This is, wait-" her breath was cut short as something wrapped around her leg, yanking her back down into the fluorescents of the sewers. Her head hit something hard as she fell, knee scraping against the rusted metal. She landed with a painful cry, leg being compressed by a slimy something. Rebecca moaned, feeling pain ripple through her left shoulder.

Vision blurred, Rebecca was suddenly aware of the presence around her leg no longer being there Her hand reached for her gun but the pocket was empty and suddenly she remembered the clatter of the gun as it fell along the pavement with her. Green eyes looked up into reddened snake eyes, that long tongue flickered not too far from her face. Slamming against her ribcage, her heart tried very hard to pump adrenaline into her body.

Panicked, she looked around for her gun. The gigantic snake looked at her with those greedy bloody rubies, a grin plastered on its face in perfect horror. Rebecca tried against her will to move but pain erupted through her shoulder and she restrained herself from crying out. As a cat watches a mouse, the snake waited for its next chance to strike, tongue flickering in anticipation, tasting her scent in the disgusting sewer air.

"I do NOT deserve to be you dinner Damnit!" she cried, eyes catching the glint of the handgun at the edge of the stairs just a few millimeters away. Her pained eyes moved from the snake to the gun, snake, gun, snake, gun, snake. No way in hell would the creature let her grab that in time if she moved.

It was now or never.

Despite the protests of her shoulder Rebecca lounged for Billy's most important gift to her, left shoulder dangling uselessly at her side like a rag doll's arm. She could feel the currents in the sewer move as the snake made its move and with all of her strength she rolled the other way. Wham! Sharp teeth hit metal, crushing the spot where she had been and damaging the ladder.

"Hey! I need that!" Rebecca protested but didn't waste time mourning the bottom of the creaky ladder. Her gun was ready to go and aimed at those slivered red eyes, "I dare you to try that again."

As though sure of what she said, the snake lounged at her. Rebecca placed all of her eggs in one basket and side stepped, unloading the clips into crimson eyes. The screech that erupted into the air was enough to make her ears bleed but she knew better than to lose this opportunity. Heart racing she brushed passed the large green giant and towards the broken stairs.

Crunch, the pavement crackled underneath her feet, the snake stopped its screeching, and honed in on her panicked movements. Rebecca felt the cold slime of the ladder against her fingertips and turned around just in time to see her worst nightmare.

Those bloody eyes remained untouched; her bullet shell had hit something further down. Blood oozed from the wound like glue, sticking to thick scales. Her heart froze and so did she, gazing into the dark eyes of what would be her killer. Something inside of her continued to burn despite her body's protests.

_I can't leave Billy…_

Nimble fingers used to healing wounds, not creating them, wrapped around a rusty iron bar with a cut edge that jagged out towards the wall in sharp pieces. The lounge came but this time she was ready, moving out of the way enough so that those sharp fangs only grazed her leg. With all her strength she pushed the rusty into those greedy eyes and the creature wailed. In a movement too quick for someone who felt so much pain, she gathered her gun and made her way up the ladder.

The thrashing of the snake beneath her was the perfect insensitive to ignore the burning sensation within her limb. She broke the surface and rolled onto the grass before her, finger gripped the manhole like it was a shield. In an incredible show of strength she flipped the cap back on and rolled on to her back, feeling a black out on the way.

With a grimace she grabbed her useless shoulder and pushed tightly on the joint, pushing it back to the connecting point where it belonged. Her cry was internalized by her strong will to survive and find Billy. She was a healer, she knew everything about her body, and she was a member of the famous S.T.A.R.S. team.

She was, and would remain, a survivor.

Heart racing, she stood up and fought the blackness that tugged at her visions. There would be time for black outs later. Her shoulder held a lingering burn where it had once been disconnected but she felt the usage come back almost in full.

Green and lushness enveloped her and she felt lost in the sudden beauty of the dying world around her. The gardens of Raccoon city had never looked so full, so alive and waiting to be seen. A little ways beyond the garden stood a tall, lit-up building bearing the blood red and hospital white logo that had haunted her dreams; her destination.

**Note D'author:  
Hopefully this sounds as good as it did when I was writing it.  
Please don't be too harsh on me because I didn't even bother to do any proofing aside from running it through the spell checker.  
I'm really working my tailbone off to finish this and make it a happy ending, I mean uh, hi! So hopefully it'll be done by the summer and I will try and update it asap.  
Comments are MUCH appreciated!  
Stay tuned. =] **


	8. Never Left Behind

All content pertaining to Resident Evil is copy write to Capcom

**Never Left Behind**

-Chapter Eight-

Brown eyes watched helplessly through a foggy lens as the monstrosity attacked the only person that Billy had ever trusted since the marines. He wanted to move but the bits and pieces of pain in his head had gathered collectively to force him to remain on his stone perch, rubble clinging to his body in sharp indents. He wanted to say something, to stop the creature, but blackness swirled in his vision making everything pulled towards the darkness.

_Rebecca…_

He pushed away the darkness and managed to prop himself up in time to see those dainty fingers pulled tight around a circular, green textured object that he knew to be only one thing. Alarmingly close to where she lay along the pavement, the monster raised his arm to strike a second too late. Billy watched propped up against a dented car as the grenade went off and he dove behind the metal.

Flames erupted around them, the creature the center of the violent whirlwind. Billy closed his eyes against the heat that pulled at his body, dirt, rubble, and dust clung to the air to dilute the picture. The force of the blow had caused his head to smash the front taillight of the faded car.

The dust didn't clear fast enough for him to see the large shape lying among the disturbed pavement. Ex Lieutenant Billy Coen couldn't stop his eyes from closing and the darkness that over took him.

---

"_This is Jill Valentine, if anyone is our there please respond!" _Radio silence crackled, the source nearby, "_I repeat, this is jill valentine, if anyone is out there please respond! This is urgent."_

A groaned protest of the headache-like sensation in his head made the muscular man sluggish to comprehend the contents of the radio. He had imagined himself in the dusty queen-sized bed in the brown motel, resting his head on the coffee-stained pillow he had been so generously 'supplied' with.

_"Damnit, are we the only survivors? Please, if you are out there, respond, this is your last chance."_

It was like a floodgate had suddenly broken and all the thoughts and memories came rushing to him like a river. Rebecca, the creature, the grenade, heck, the zombie apocalypse! In a foolishly fast movement he opened his eyes and stood up, the world spinning the second he took another breath; his head had a throbbing pain in the back where the car had given him a good whacking. Billy found his mind to be very one track and he instantly turned to the spot where the young rookie was and gaped in horror.

Where there should have been a piece of the street there was nothing but a caved-in black hole leading down into the intestines of the city. A nearby car lay burning in a nothingless heap of scrap metal; the only identifying piece was a headlight fragment that had jumped off before the initial explosion.

There was no way in hell that thing had survived… and less of a chance of his young companion. A crackling broadcast cut short his analysis of the situation. The transmission was coming from a small side radio on one of the fallen police member's belt, which was as far from wherever the originally officer was as possible.

_"They plan on blowing up the city, I don't know if there are any survivors other than myself and my companion… but you had better get out as soon as possible. The only way to escape is the helipad on the umbrella corporation building's roof, please we'll wait as long as we can but…" _

The transmission crackled a little more with fuzzy speech but Billy couldn't make out the initial message. His heart seemed to be made of lead, hard in his chest and threatening to leap up into his throat. What the hell was going on with this city? First the virus is leaked, then some freak creature is set up to attack members of S.T.A.R.S., and now they planned on covering up their mistake with a bomb?

There was no time to doubt that Rebecca was still alive and that she was headed for that big building full of zombied executives. He would never leave anyone behind, it wasn't in his training under the military. To leave someone behind was to be a coward; to leave Rebecca behind was to erase his purpose in life. There was no way that he could get in touch with her, he had to put his faith in her survival skills.

Billy looked around for the corpse of the large monster that Umbrella had made to hunt the S.T.A.R.S. units, the only remnants that he could find were pieces of rubble that clung the bloody body pieces of a few unlocking cop corpses. Conditioned to handle the violence, Billy gathered up the remaining supplies, his mind about two years into the past.

_"The hostiles are located in a village to the far right, not too far from the drop off point, your only objective is to eliminate any individual you see regardless of what rank or affiliation" orders were simple, compliant almost, and they weren't meant to question them._

_She stood in front of the men with the guns, her dark hands held around a basket of assorted fruits. Her eyes were wide with confusion, like that of a doe that had been caught in the intense headlights of the car. Besides him his fellow marines stood in a position that mirrored hers, looking around as though unsure if they had heard their captain right._

_"Follow your orders or I will have you personally arrested!" the command barked. _

_Paralyzed, he watched as the man's bullets tore into those innocent eyes, blood ran down that flawless dark skin as she sank into the ground beneath her. The fruits in the basket spilled out onto the ground, trampled by the panicked villagers and even more panicked marines unit. _

_A small thump sounded as the rifle in his hand hit the ground, absorbed by the brown dirt beneath him. She lay motionless like a crumpled doll, eyes wide and her slender body splayed in a position that no living person would ever allow himself or herself to endure. Gunshots echoed through the little clearing but they remained muted in his mind._

_He found his fist buried into the back of the head of the nearest white face of the only man who was yelling, those brown eyes had stared into his soul and questioned everything that he stood for in a matter of seconds._

Cocking the barrel of the shotgun, Billy tucked the remaining ammunition rounds into his pocket and stood up. It didn't feel right to loot the dead but they weren't going to need guns or ammunition where they were going. His eyes were serious as he looked at the bright lights that circled the corporate building.

Nobody else would die on his watch, ever.

---

Umbrella Corporation, a company with a lying complex. No, maybe a company that took pride in its ability to ruin peoples lives. Hmm, that wasn't quite right either. Umbrella Corporation; the biggest corporal bitch that didn't care whether or not they killed people. Bingo. Rebecca clicked another clip into the handgun she held tightly in her right hand. She wasn't a trained killer but she wouldn't hesitate to do some zombie target practice.

Who would have guessed that Umbrella's largest corporation building would have gardens that lead right to the sewers? Maybe it had been their planned escape route she thought sourly. Her fingers flicked the light switch of the lobby on, gun poised and ready to shoot anything that so much as moved. There was silence, minus the flickering light above the clerk's desk.

In a movement too quick to be a regular walk, Rebecca made her way over to the glass door with the pass key slot on the side. She used her left hand to jiggle the golden handle. No progress aside from getting her more annoyed. Letting out a small huff of aggravation, she swiveled to look for some form of override for the thick glass door. Somehow she doubted that her gun could cut through glass that wide.

"Where the heck would _I_ keep an extra pass key if I was Umbrella," she mused allowed, eying the surrounding area and then remarking, "how about in the sewers?"

She scoffed at her own ill humor and turned her attention to the clerk's desk. It took her only a moment or two to find what she was looking for, dangling from the neck of a slumped over female with blonde hair so bright she tried hard not to look at it. The thick locks shaded her face, blood pooled on the floor underneath her.

"Gotcha!" Rebecca grinned, leaning in to snatch the badge from that pale neckline.

Instantly manicured hands closed around her wrist almost like claws, pulling her closer to the zombie secretary. The grip was inhuman and very unlike a zombie, Rebecca knew better than to get any closer to the dead woman. She let go of the laminated badge and unloaded a clip into the dead body's leg. The woman staggered in her red heels, falling almost as she let go of Rebecca's hand.

"Damnit I need that!" she scowled, not daring to reach out and grab the badge with the woman only momentarily incapacitated. A chilled hand gripped her shoulder and she nearly screamed as she noticed there was no thumb protruding from the jagged bone.

Turning around she flung the attacker from her direct person and watched in horror at the little gathering in the lobby. Several bloodied, half eaten corpses were slowly making their way towards her pale flesh; hunger consumed whatever had once made them human. Apparently they had attempted to hold out here.

No way could she shoot them all with her handgun. Rebecca sucked in her breath as she locked in another clip and fired a bullet in between two empty eyes. One down only five billion more. This wasn't going to work. Her eyes shifted from the oncoming hoard to the ghoulish secretary to her right. She was attempting to stand on what would soon be a broken leg.

Rebecca's lip wrinkled back in disgust but she took her chance, clicking the trigger at those blonde locks. They weren't human anymore, she couldn't save them, so there was no reason to think it was murder. She was reliving the same horrors as the dark Spencer mansion, the same moral ideals; only this time she was only a little more prepared.

"You don't need it anyways," she said sharply as she reached out to yank the card from the woman's neck.

The cheap plastic that had held the badge snapped and Rebecca was left only with the card. Greedy hands reached over the counter in an attempt to snatch some part of what would be their breakfast but Rebecca shrugged them off. She didn't waste time unloading into any sort of zombie that put any sort of limb between her and the door. The card slid smoothly and the door's lock clicked open.

Faster than she had ever moved in her entire life, Rebecca moved into the next hallway and shut the door. She didn't even relax when the metal in the lock clicked back to the default that would shut the zombies out. They slowly flung themselves against the thick glass, stupidly unaware that they would never be able to pass through it.

_Billy, I hope you use the back door…_

The young S.T.A.R.S. member turned left to onto the stairwell, green eyes watering with the speed that she was moving at. She had to reach the roof, had to make sure that Billy was there, they would be okay! They had to be, especially with this luck. Her heart hammered as she continued up the stairwell, breaths coming in a panting pattern often associated with running. It was as though she had done a marathon after participating in some sort of boxing match, bruised and beaten with sore spots and the irritating feeling of dryness burning her lungs.

What could have been eighteen flights of stairs was only four in her mind, she had done so much more, survived in conditions much worse, and without the promise of seeing the ex convict at the end. Battle worn fingers closed around the door with the red emergency light glowing around it. Heart beat speeding up; she stood at the end of her journey. With a deep inhale she opened the door.

"Billy!"

The figure sat perched on top of a large grey cargo box with the Umbrella corporation logo on the side. She squinted against the distance, breathing hard from the cardiovascular work out she had just unintentionally received. Rebecca tried tremendously to control her breathing, successful as she made her way towards the figure.

"Oh God Billy I thought that I killed you!" she said, the grip she had on her gun was looser now, "I can't believe that you beat me here, I'm so glad you're alive."

Rebecca could see the man standing up, Billy was coming to greet her.

"Why so quiet?" her breathing was normal now, no longer labored by the stress she had placed upon her lungs the walk up here. Beneath them the city burned like a thousand little candles, the buildings so small that they almost didn't matter. The man turned around and she felt the familiar sinking feeling most people associated with a nightmare.

"Rebecca, I'm surprised you made it this far," a thin smile stretched across an emotionless face, bearing down into her soul like an evil laugh in the silence.

Dark eyes peered through darker sunglasses at her; golden blonde locks were slicked back in a fashion that could only belong to the man standing before her in black clothes. Albert Wesker. Her own personal nightmare.

Author's Note:  
H**opefully this doesn't sound too rushed or too badly written 'cause i've given up on editing them haha.  
I really appreciate the feedback you guys are given me, it's so inspiring to me!  
But yes, I am GOING to finish this story before summer so you had better keep tuning in!  
Also, I apoligize if every other word out of their mouth is each other's name, haha, I'm trying so hard not to turn this into a romance flick but it's going south very fast....and for some reason this is all bold... so, uh sorry?  
Thanks for everything!  
~Jvalentine~  
**


	9. Fight For Survival

All content pertaining to Resident Evil is copy write to Capcom

**Fight for Survival**

-Chapter Nine-

"_Rebecca, I'm surprised you made it this far"_

Perfect pearly whites smiled back at her with a grin that was far from sincere. It was the face of a killer who had detached himself from his own world, a face that you never wanted to find yourself staring into alone. Wesker had trained them himself, every day, every command, every cup of coffee laughed over and now he stood on the opposite end of the spectrum; S.T.A.R.S.'s personal assassin. She wanted to ask why but every part of her body seemed frozen in the moment.

"What are you doing here?" she felt her face tighten with emotion as she finally voiced a part of her mind. The young S.T.A.R.S member's finger tightened on the trigger of her gun.

Wesker took his time in responding, as though the world were at his fingertips. He stood calculating his next move like a master playing chess, not even watching her. A familiar sinking feeling gripped Rebecca's insides as she watched her former mentor face her, the city lights reflected in his glasses. Wesker's voice was calm when he answered as though nothing in the world mattered more than what he had to say.

"You S.T.A.R.S. members have far outlived your original purpose," he paused for what seemed like dramatic effect, "Was it too hard just to die in the Spencer mansion? No matter, I'd rather see that my own hands did the matter personally,"

Fear welled up inside her at those words but she stood tall and unmoving with her heart breaking into a thousand tiny little pieces at what she was hearing. He really did want her dead. Captain Wesker had betrayed the team and he would kill her if he could. She had been through this betrayal before but reliving it made matters five times worse.

"Why are you doing this?" she cried, thoughts running ramped through her mind like flashes of lightening.

Wesker's eyebrow moved a little in what some people might have considered a facial expression but to anyone else it was a fatal attempt at human emotion, or maybe an eyebrow itch. A cold wind blew over them as the city lights flared through their brokenness, reflecting Rebecca's emotional state.

"Why?" he seemed curious that she had even asked but continued, "William Birkin is a fool, his ideas for the virus are so simplistic, so impossibly small in the scheme of things, how could someone with so much power use it for things such as correcting the human race? Getting rid of imperfections?" Wesker's face was twisted with disgust, "I leaked the virus into the city, hoping that it would catch the rest of S.T.A.R.S. so I could finally be rid of all the little nuisances. Now that I've got what I want it doesn't matter what happens to this city."

The words sank in and Rebecca could feel her heart cracking with each word until the painful jarred edges pressed at her insides like broken glass. How could someone do this to people willingly? How could they do it without any sort of feeling? It was just like the zombie-infested mansion; the only way to cover their mistakes was to destroy them.

"Why eliminate S.T.A.R.S.?" she could barely hear the words, her voice cracking under the pressure of having to speak.

"S.T.A.R.S. was made for testing the virus's capabilities," he paused as he gazed at the city, "I could care less what happens to S.T.A.R.S. now, you are just puppets in a greater scheme."

The smile that spread across his face was small, the corners of his mouth turned upwards with some sort of sick self-satisfaction that Rebecca Chambers had no idea about. Rage and emotion made her body more flexible, the ice that had filled her veins was replaced with fire. She held her fingers tight around the metal of Billy's dog tags still dangling around her neck. Rebecca had kept them as a memento, though her original intent had been to give them back if she'd ever seen Billy again.

"You're sick," Rebecca felt the hot sting of a teardrop running down her face, "All these people dead, and what for? Your own personal ambition? For power? I used to look up to you!" Rebecca finished, wiping the hot trails of tears away from her eyes, "not anymore. Someone has to stop you."

"It seems out little conversation is over," Wesker reached into what would appear to be a side holster but Rebecca knew better than to fall for the same trick twice.

She dodged just in time to feel the bullet graze the side of her face, leaving a light trail of blood along the side of her pale cheekbones. Short brown hair was tousled with the weight of her movement, gravity and physics moving the short strands around her face like a shear sheet on a windy day.

"Wesker!" She yelled, angrily, her gun rested in her hands, the clip loaded and ready to go. Rebecca knew that she would use it if she had to, even if he was her former captain.

"It's time for you to die," he fired another shot, this time missing on purpose.

Rebecca dodged rolled on the ground, finding herself resting behind a large pile of Umbrella crates. Another bullet fastened itself into the cheap metal crates, a liquid oozed from them but she paid no attention to the clear substance. Rebecca felt her heart race from both adrenaline and fear of losing.

"Jill, Chris, Richard," she began, "they mean _nothing_ to you? I thought you and Chris were friends!" she yelled over the crates, not caring that she gave away her cover. There was no answer, only more bullets.

Rebecca peaked out from the crates just in time to see a bullet wiz by her head. She knelt down again, pinpointing in her mind where Wesker might be standing. Aggravated, she stood up and fired. The bullet might have hit point blank but there was no reaction from Wesker other than his cocky words.

"You'll have to do better than that," he laughed, firing more bullets into the casings as though he were firing just for the sake of firing. Rebecca felt that something was wrong, her eyes looked down at the oozing liquid and her heart jumped out of her chest.

Who the heck stores fuel in a container like that?

Heart racing, she dove as the next bullet hit home and lit the metal, fuel-soaked crates up like a display of fireworks. Rebecca felt her shoulder protest but she ignored it, her gun pointed at Wesker's face. Bang. Bang. She fired twice but her bullets seemed too slow. Wesker seemed to understand he had the advantage with her in the open, his gun poised.

_How many people has he stepped on to get what he wanted? How many dead? How many more will he kill and torture? Damnit… I can't let Billy face him. I can't let him get away with what he did. I can't let him harm whoever is left from S.T.A.R.S., Sorry Billy. _

Adrenaline made her faster than she normally was, her gun held tightly in her hand as she raised it to point at Wesker's face. Rebecca unloaded her round, well aware of the impact of a gunshot one her chest. She fell back with the motion and pain erupted from where Wesker's bullet had hit her. Rebecca watched through blurred vision as Wesker approached her pained, kneeling form.

She waited for the blood to soak her shirt, her hear to stop, the pain to continue to get worse, but something was off. Her fingers closed in on where she had been hit and she felt the indent of Billy's dog tags, the metal charred from where the bullet had impacted with it. Her heart almost stopped, face shadowed by the darkness of the night above. Luck was on her side.

Wesker was dangerously close now, within striking distance, the only thing that stopped him from firing to kill her was the knowledge that he had won. Rebecca played the role of the wounded, her fingers tightening around her loaded gun with each of Wesker's slow steps. One shot could make or break her.

"S.T.A.R.S. is dead Rebecca, you should have run while you had the chance," he was less than a foot away, "now you're going to die."

Within what seemed like a second her gun was pointed at Wesker's face. Suddenly aware of his mistake, Wesker reached his hand out to deflect her gun away. Her finger pulled the trigger and the gun fired into his arm, piercing the thick vest he wore. Wesker swore and lashed out, backhanding her so hard that she felt her body hit the ground, scraping cement and peeling back flesh. Her gun clattered across the cement.

A strong, pressuring grip wrapped around her throat, lifting her up into a chokehold before she could react. Slender fingers tried to rip the grip away but she was losing air fast. Rebecca remembered the defense lessons she had taken before S.T.A.R.S. It only took eight minutes to strangle someone to the ground, 11 to kill them. Her heartbeat frantically and for a second she considered for the fifth time that her life might be over.

"Time to die!" he yelled, aggravated yet apathetic about his wound.

Until someone side checked Wesker, causing him to release his grips on Rebecca. She fell to her knees on the ground gasping for air, palms splayed on the cool cement, soaking up the coldness it offered. It took an unbearably long second for her to regain her breath and assess her surroundings. Locked in a fistfight with the blonde-haired murderer was the person she had hoped the most to see.

Billy Coen.

She reached for her gun, scrambling in her pocket for a new clip and discarding the old one. The clip landed on the cement with a loud thunk and the new one slid in with a crisp clicking noise that Rebecca now associated with zombie killing. Her breath came in rasps as though Wesker had made her throat physically smaller by strangling her. Ignoring the sensation, Rebecca watched as Wesker and Billy battled.

"Miss me doll face?" he yelled over the fight, clearly no match for the ex captain despite all the muscles he had.

In one small second Billy had been about to slug Wesker in the face and the next Wesker had his gun out. Rebecca didn't waste time, she charged into the fight, gun pointed at Wesker's head as Wesker pointed his gun into Billy's muscular chest. The three stood at the draw for a few seconds before Wesker attempted to kick the gun out of her hand. Rebecca yanked away just in time, Billy pushing the gun away from his heart and taking his place at Rebecca's side.

"Billy, I thought-" she started but was interrupted.

Above them a familiar sound echoed in the sky, the swirling of helicopter blades pierced the silence. At the far end of the helipad the burning crates continued to smolder almost like a beacon in the dark night. Rebecca found herself almost short of breath, gun in her hands. Wesker turned his head towards the sky, though not taking his eyes off of the pair.

"Looks like you lucked out again Rebecca," he stated, "Enjoy it while you can. Nemesis will finish this," Wesker grabbed the thin rope ladder of the low flying helicopter before either of them could do anything. Billy charged but found himself swinging at the air.

Rebecca released her clip into the cold steel, missing the man as the helicopter took off into the night's sky. Rebecca's heart was once again lead as the vehicle took off, disappearing into the night's sky. She resisted the urge to sink to her knees. There was nothing more that either of them could do.

"Damnit!" she clenched her fist, "Coward!" she yelled into the open night sky.

A heavy hand landed on her shoulder, wanted contact despite the way that it made her jump. Her heart seemed to slow down, almost dangerously slow and the lack of adrenaline in her body. Everything ached, inside and out. Rebecca turned heavy green eyes to Billy, tear lines burning her cheeks.

"He's the reason Raccoon city's such a dump, he's the reason I lost my team!" she couldn't bring herself to say anymore, heart heavy.

Billy gave her a half smile and drew her into an embrace, his hands resting on her feathery-soft hair. For a moment they just stood there, her hands fastened around his chest as though he might be the last living thing on the planet, and the most precious. Above them the stars sparkled like glitter amongst a sea of obsidian.

"Hey, it's nice to see that you're safe," he began, "I was afraid that I'd lost you to that street crater," his tone was joking but concern laced the easy tone. Billy let go of her and stared into her emerald eyes, waiting for a reaction that was a little more stable.

"Billy," she half smiled, wiping the remnants of tears, "you didn't use the front door did you?!" her words were sudden with realization, worried even though he was here in front of her. She dropped her hands, no longer touching him.

"Uh yeah, were you the one who left the crowd at the door?" he asked, eyebrow cocked, "I mean I knew you were popular but that cost me my shot gun," he managed a half-hearted grin.

"Woops," she giggled slightly and tried to fight back the flush of pink that attacked her cheeks. She found herself glad that Billy was attempting to cheer her up after the man who had ruined her life had just gotten into his getaway mobile.

"How did you dodge that bullet? I saw you fall and I thought you were gone," Billy seemed a bit lost as to how she had managed such a feat.

Rebecca reached behind her neck, reaching the small chain with her fingers. She searched for the connecting piece and managed to unclip the tags. They clinked against one another, bumping and moving until she finally pulled them away from her neck. The main tag seemed to be grossly indented; the bullet was no longer attached to the thick steel. The hole in her shirt and the indent in the metal were living proof of the impact.

"My lucky charm," she grinned, dangling them in front of Billy, "here, I've been meaning to give these back to you anyways…" her heart raced as she placed the chain into Billy's unsuspecting hands.

Billy stared curiously at the indent for a couple of moments and then some sort of thought seemed to hit him. He clasped his hands tightly around the dog tags and stuffed them into his jeans pockets quickly. His face seemed slightly different than before, the expression unsure.

"So, apparently they're going to bomb the city," he offered lightly, as though it were a conversation about the weather. Rebecca felt her heart spasm again; apparently blowing things up was a popular occurrence when a zombie apocalypse happened.

"What can we do?!" she almost died under the realization.

"Nothing actually, I thought that there would be a rescue effort here, I mean they said that they'd wait as long as they could but…" his voice trailed off, "I guess we're too late, huh?"

She caught the meaning in his voice, the defeated tone that echoed in her own heart. Somehow it didn't seem as bad facing the end with someone she had grown to care about. Rebecca resisted the urge to reach out for Billy's hand.

"You know, I thought things would get better after the mansion," she trailed off, "but it's almost like they've gotten worse. Umbrella wants me dead, Wesker's gotten away, and now we're about to become part of the fireworks and we aren't even zombies," she felt the sigh heavy in her body.

"Yep, looks like this is it," Billy teased, his words half serious. He draped his arm around Rebecca's slender shoulders as the two watched the city glow with fire bellow them.

"Hey Billy," Rebecca offered, waiting for his response.

"Yea Doll face?" she might have hated the name if it had come from anyone other than Billy.

"Thanks for being my zombie buddy," the words were slightly misplaced from what she really wanted to say but Rebecca knew that the effect would be the same.

"Any time," he grinned, giving her shoulder a little squeeze.

Something behind them rattled at the doorway leading to the helipad as though it were trying to fit through the door. Rebecca's grip on her gun was tight once more and Billy's arm removed itself from her shoulders. The question on both their minds hung over them like a poltergeist; what now?

The doorframe unhinged itself in an explosion, flopping down like a piece of petrified toast onto the cement beneath it. Landing with a sharp crack, the door sizzled underneath a fire that neither of the two survivors could see. Cracking under a great pressure, the doorframe to the helipad erupted into rubble as a large figure pressured its way through the frame.

Standing taller than six feet, the same peeled back grin looked at them, open to say the only word that the killing machine had been programmed to; S.T.A.R.S. Wesker's final words had been all too right, this creature was hunting Rebecca, hunting S.T.A.R.S. and it wouldn't stop until they were dead. The massive hunk of killing machine stepped forwards, turning in Rebecca's direction.

"S.T.A.R.S."

-Author's Note-

Dun dun dun. One more chapter, I promise it'll be epic!  
Sorry for the delay in posting, I've been working on a Resident Evil RP that seems to have eaten my soul!  
Thanks for your support guys, we're gunna finish this! =]


	10. The Last Stand

All content pertaining to Resident Evil is copy write to Capcom

**The Last Stand**

-Chapter Ten-

"S.T.A.R.S." the voice was almost like something out of a nightmare; a particular stalker who knew your name. Rebecca turned on heel, ready to face this last challenge with her companion. Both of them knew how badly mismatched they were against the killing machine but they would die fighting if needed.

"What are you doing here?!" Rebecca yelled with annoyance, even her last moments with Billy couldn't be peaceful, "go get Wesker instead, he's the one who made you so ugly!"

"Ugly? That's being nice," Billy interjected, reaching down for his gun as well. Rebecca looked to Billy as the large creature pulled out something from it's back, loading a large orange-colored round onto what appeared to be a rocket launcher.

Apparently this monster was well equipped with explosives, just in case…

"Evasive maneuvers!" she cried as Nemesis clicked the trigger on the rocket launcher pointed in their direction.

The roof where they had been standing just five seconds ago was now nothing but a crater of cement that sizzled with an uncomfortable heat. Rebecca landed on her feet despite all that she had been through, raising her gun to fire at that ugly face that would have haunted the dreams of anyone who had the misfortune to look at it.

"There's no way in hell we can stop that monster!" Billy yelled to her as Nemesis dropped the launcher and turned to face his intended target, "He's after you, not me, I'll see if I can distract him."

Billy found himself searching for something big enough to distract the S.T.A.R.S.- eating giant, pretty sure that any bullets from his handgun would have the effect of a fly landing on Nemesis's arm. He looked up to see Nemesis closing in Rebecca, who only had so much of the roof to back up on. This was bad.

"The crates have fuel in them! If we can get him to get near them…" Rebecca trailed off, dodging a lunge from the beast to dodge roll to another side of the roof. She still had time.

"Hey, I have an idea," Billy began, waiting for the big hunk of flesh to get close to the next set of crates Rebecca was baiting him towards, "tell him you quit S.T.A.R.S!" He yelled.

Rebecca moved further back towards the corner of the roof, Nemesis following faster now. She was secretly glad he had no more rocket launchers up his sleeve or they would be out of business. One more step, just one more, he was getting uncomfortably close.

"NOW!" Rebecca yelled and Billy unleashed his bullets upon the unsuspecting crates.

The effect was devastating, for Nemesis anyways. In an explosion of fire and fuel, Nemesis was enveloped in the flames so deep that Billy could barely make out the shape of him anymore. In the heat of the explosion Billy imagined that he heard the blades of a chopper. The mind was funny like that. For all he knew it could be the air force team ready to bomb the place. Time stood still for a moment as they considered there almost victory and then the fire and debris began to clear.

"You alright?!" he asked, looking into the flames. What he saw next broke whatever cocky notions he had about winning the fight.

It was as though they hadn't done anything other than light him on fire. The monster stood tall, his grin and body burning, but nothing seemed to stop his willpower to kill the S.T.A.R.S. members. Billy felt things go south quick as the flaming killer moved in on Rebecca who stood cornered at the far end of the helipad.

"Damnit!" Billy cursed, dropping the used clip and popping in a new one as he ran in a futile attempt to stop what seemed like the inevitable.

Nemesis was barely a foot away from Rebecca, who continued to fire into his flesh until her gun was empty. Click, Click. Not this way, any way but this way. This couldn't be the end. Billy raised his gun, unloading the clip to no success. Nothing would make the creature move. Nemesis reached out for Rebecca's body but something stopped him.

"S.T.A.R.S." he turned his head upwards where the outline of a helicopter emerged among the smoke.

At the open door of the helicopter stood a figure with a loaded rocket launcher. Billy almost had a heart attack trying to comprehend what was happening. Five seconds ago they were on the losing side and at the mercy of some freakish creation and now suddenly some amazoness showed up to save them with a rocket launcher? Had he died already? Her words echoed along the outline of the helipad.

"You want S.T.A.R.S.? I'll give you stars!" a female voice yelled and the rocket launched from its post, the woman braced herself for the recoil, gripping the side of the helicopter opening and placing the launcher down.

Instantly the burning figure of Nemesis turned into an explosion or maybe even an inferno, it didn't really matter seeing as he would be ashes pretty soon. Billy didn't waste time gawking over what had happened, he was at Rebecca's side within seconds, eyes searching her over for any physical damages. Besides them a rope ladder connecting to the helicopter dropped and the woman's words filled the helipad.

"Get in we don't have much time!" her words were rushed like she knew the current situation. Billy felt relief flush over him though it wouldn't be complete until he saw the dead ashes of the killing machine on the cold cement of the helipad. He motioned for Rebecca to go with one of his award-winning looks.

"Ladies first," he said with a small smile.

"Age before beauty," Rebecca countered but placed her foot on the ladder, climbing into the air and eventually towards the metal helicopter. If she hadn't just survived a zombie apacolypse she might have been afraid of the idea of climbing a rope ladder in the air to an open helicopter. Billy followed after her and the chopper took off. Pausing at the end of the ladder, Rebecca gave one more look at her hometown and then allowed herself to be pulled up.

Once they were safely into the helicopter the pair found themselves sprawled on the floor of a very shaky helicopter headed for the outskirts of the city. Rebecca looked around her surroundings to find people she knew very well. A brown haired man with green gear with the name Redfield written in white letters sat in the co-pilots seat next to the fatherly figure of Barry Burton who seemed almost fit to drive the whirling chopper.

Nimble fingers rested on her shoulder and Rebecca found herself looking into a face with blue eyes framed by chestnut brown hair. The woman's expression was a bit worried but more or less relieved to see her. To the far right a man Rebecca didn't know sat, his standardized machine gun sprawled across his lap, he looked at the city bellow them as though he had left something important within it.

"You're alive!" Rebecca all but cried.

Behind them the city seemed to light up into an inferno, the heat chasing the small helicopter and tousling the crew enough so that they gripped whatever surface was available at the moment. Rebecca's holding point happened to be the base of the co-pilot's chair, Billy besides her. Everything seemed slightly more dangerous until they cleared the zone of the blast and what was left of Raccoon city dissipated into nothingness. Billy had been right about the blast.

"I got your email," Rebecca's co-worker smiled, "a little late but I appreciate the notice."

From the co-pilots seat a very familiar voice rang out along the helicopter's metal interior, green eyes focused on her and Billy sitting sprawled in the middle of the helicopter.

"You're looking at the newest captain of S.T.A.R.S.," the man grinned, "we're going to stop them once and for all. This is the last time."

Silence hung among the inhabitants of the helicopter and Rebecca felt Billy close to her, leaning against the pilot's seat. He didn't know these people like she did but he knew what the offer was. They had all lost something in the burning embers before, memories, possessions, and friends. There wouldn't be any other victims to Umbrella's mistakes and evil will. They would make sure of it.

"You in?" the woman asked, re-seated by the man in the back, her brown boots crossed at the ankles as she stared at her previous co-worker, her face indicated no pressure but her eyes seemed to share the same depth as Rebecca's.

"Definitely"

---

Sunlight sparkled around the courtyard of the training facility, basking anything surrounding Rebecca in a bright light. The scene was so far removed from where she had been merely a week ago. It was hard to go from guarding yourself every second to letting simple things slip by like the crunching of leaves behind you or a door opening to your left. Things were better and yet worse.

"I knew I'd find you here," she smiled, approaching the browned pic nic table.

The figure that occupied most of one side of the bench was thick and toned, wearing his traditional gray muscle shirt and a pair of faded jeans. A chain hung around his neck, glistening with the brightness of the sunlight. On the table before him was a small ashtray, a cigarette smoked between his fingers and Rebecca scowled.

"Hey!" she grabbed the cigarette, snuffing the stick out in the ashtray, "don't you know smoking is bad for you?" Another smile.

The man turned to where she had sat besides him, grinning as he did so. He turned around on the bench to face her, resting his elbows on the hard surface of the table and shooting her the look.

"Didn't think I'd see you again," he joked.

"Too bad, it's not that easy to get rid of me apparently," she laughed and took a seat besides him, looking at the small patch of garden that the facility had attempted to grow. Small tulips poked through the earth as though afraid to peer through entirely. Thick mulch blanketed them.

"So where's your team off to next?" he asked in a questioning tone though his voice held the same sort of unattached feeling to it. Rebecca wondered what was going on in his mind.

"We think Africa is the best bet. Chris has been doing research on Umbrella and we've managed to link them to a small village called Kijuju. Apparently they plan on testing a new virus called Uroboros on the local population," she paused for more air, "maybe we can find some answers… and Wesker."

Silence hung between them like a lead balloon, Billy and Rebecca remained afraid to make the final step towards their separation. This was the end of their journey together and they both knew it. After all they had been through they would no longer have each other to lean on. Rebecca felt her lip wobble but bit down on it to stop herself from thinking too much about it.

"Africa eh?" Billy pierced the silence with his smooth voice, "so you're going to go get a tan?"

Rebecca laughed. This was the last conversation they might ever have and he was going to talk about getting a tan? She didn't think her heart could take much more of this final confrontation. Billy Coen had a new life to live, he had been given two second chances and it would be a mistake to believe he'd use that fighting with the very team that had condemned him to die.

"Yeah, I'll send you a picture," Rebecca pushed off from the bench, adorned in her familiar medic uniform, "I guess I'll see you around!"

Her legs began to move faster than she imagined they could, hitting the ground with hesitation lining every step. Rebecca was suddenly afraid that she would do something very stupid in an attempt to leave Billy behind, like hit a wall or trip over a ledge. That would be a wonderful last picture for him to have of her.

Rebecca rounded the corner of the building, trying hard not to let emotions influence her decision to follow the newly assembled S.T.A.R.S. team to their next war. Bioterrorism was a threat that would jeopardize normal life and she wouldn't stop until it was gone, not even to spend time with…

"Hey, Rebecca!" a voice called after her and she found it a little too easy to stop, her foot catching itself on a nearby ledge and sending her sprawling onto the ground. Her hands caught her, landing in fluffy grass. Strong hands pulled her up, "You forgot something of yours."

Dumbfounded, Rebecca brushed brown hair out of her face and found herself being pivoted around to face a very good-looking Billy Coen. He held something in his hands, those deep brown eyes focused on her in a manner that was almost too serious to belong to Billy.

"My badge?" she asked as her voice cracked with embarrassment.

"No," he grabbed her hand with his own, pulling her in and looping something around her neck. She felt a chill run down her spine as Billy's fingers slipped over the soft skin of her back. It sent flutters down her chest to be so close to him. Damnit. He finished, clicking them back into place and looking at his masterpiece, "your lucky charms."

Blood rushed to her cheeks as she stared at the man in front of her, offering his dog tags once again as a memento of who they were. There was that sad realization that they couldn't exist together anymore, that they would be separated forever but something else was there. Rebecca felt as though she would faint under the gaze of those brown eyes.

"But they belong to you," she protested weakly, secretly dying to wear that chain around her neck again.

Thoughts rushed into her head quicker than she could suppress them or block them out. Billy had always been there for her, protected her as she protected him. She remembered the way that the water had clung to his face, as he lay motionless in the rushing water. A feeling like no other had overtaken her heart as though the only light in her world had gone out. She felt her hands shaking as they reached for the dog tags.

No words passed between them and suddenly Rebecca felt Billy's hand on her cheek, caressing the soft skin of her face. The corner of her mouth betrayed her feelings as she smiled a small and fragile smile. Words were caught in her throat as she considered this the last time she would ever be able to tell him how she really felt.

"You could come with us," she started, distracted by Billy's touch, "They wouldn't care who you were, or what you did, Billy we would love to have you, we-" she couldn't get the rest of the offer out for reasons unknown to herself.

Billy leaned in, placing his own lips on the soft satin that made up Rebecca's lips. The kiss was short but the effects still lingered on her lips when he pulled away. Blood once again flushed the porcelain of her cheeks and she smiling at a face that smiled back at her with the same emotions Rebecca held in her heart.

"I'd love to," Billy began, "but two conditions."

"Shoot," Rebecca was surprised that the words were so smooth after she had melted down on the inside. Her lips tingled with an unknown beauty; her heart had grown wings with the thought of what had just happened.

"I'm not wearing that damn uniform," he grinned, brushing her hair affectionately with his right hand. Rebecca was well aware that her mouth might crack from smiling too hard. He didn't seem to be offering any more information and she found herself edgy almost, wanting to know what she had to do to keep him close to her.

"And?" impatience and curiosity made up her voice.

"You owe me a date."

-Author's Note-  
Alright I admit it, I caved! I HAD to end this on a romantic note because RE0 made me soooo into Becca Billy! But I hope that you guys liked it!  
I'm considering doing an alternate Resident Evil 5 fiction next but who knows what the future will bring?  
Anyways, I have a LOT of thanks to give to you guys, the readers and inspiration!  
I couldn't have done it without you guys pushing me with comments and reads, seriously, it means so much to me! Thank you guys!


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